Pure Financial Advisors LLC Grows Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 69.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,170 shares during the quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 14.4% during the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Group LLC grew its stake in Southern by 4.6% during the first quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 5,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Breakwater Capital Group grew its stake in Southern by 20.1% during the first quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 8,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $823,000 after buying an additional 1,497 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in Southern by 73.5% during the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 26,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,468,000 after buying an additional 11,368 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $236,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 0.7%

SO opened at $94.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.02 billion, a PE ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $93.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on SO. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.