Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Liberty One Investment Management LLC

Liberty One Investment Management LLC cut its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 352,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 14,224 shares during the period. Southern makes up 3.3% of Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $32,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 23.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 4,005 shares during the period. Joel Adams & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 3.9% during the first quarter. Joel Adams & Associates Inc. now owns 5,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 9.0% during the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,261 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC increased its position in Southern by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 15,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the period. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in Southern by 63.3% in the 1st quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on SO. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Barclays set a $70.00 price objective on Southern in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.83.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $97.80 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $94.06 and its 200-day moving average is $92.05. The stock has a market cap of $107.59 billion, a PE ratio of 25.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 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 $100.83.

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 company had revenue of $6.97 billion for 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%. Southern’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $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, analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 76.09%.

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.