Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Veracity Capital LLC

Veracity Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 170 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the first quarter worth $510,229,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,965 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,208,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $428,794,000 after purchasing an additional 979,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1,747.3% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 896,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,785,000 after purchasing an additional 847,803 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.92.

Southern Stock Up 0.1%

SO stock opened at $92.35 on Tuesday. 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 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $96.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $93.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.17. The firm has a market cap of $101.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.74, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.41.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results 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). Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. Research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern 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.