Wealth Advisory Team LLC Makes New $412,000 Investment in Southern Company (The) $SO

Wealth Advisory Team LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $412,000. Southern accounts for approximately 0.4% of Wealth Advisory Team LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 lifted its holdings 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. lifted its holdings 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 purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $510,229,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 120,816 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.31.

Southern Stock Up 2.2%

Southern stock opened at $98.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $98.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.73. 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 (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors 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 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.