Investment Planning Advisors Inc. Has $460,000 Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Investment Planning Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 34.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,276 shares during the quarter. Investment Planning Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $460,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,003,419,000 after purchasing an additional 107,394 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,680,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $614,297,000 after purchasing an additional 81,066 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the first quarter worth about $510,229,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,046,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $280,107,000 after purchasing an additional 120,816 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 1.0%

SO stock opened at $93.84 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $93.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.43. The company has a market cap of $103.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.43. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays raised their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.08.

Southern Company Profile

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.