West Branch Capital LLC Sells 143 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

West Branch Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 23.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 143 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $43,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,284,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 6,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $555,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 22.5% during the first quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 3,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Southern by 99.8% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its position in shares of Southern by 7.5% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 5,676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.08.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $94.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $104.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $93.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.30. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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). The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during 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%.Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous 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. Equities analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.