Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Acquired by Hall Capital Management Co. Inc.

Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 25.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 912 shares during the period. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $416,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after purchasing an additional 107,394 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,680,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,297,000 after purchasing an additional 81,066 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $510,229,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.1% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,046,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,107,000 after purchasing an additional 120,816 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SO. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.77.

Southern Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $96.39 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $106.03 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $96.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.56.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

About Southern

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.