Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $510,229,000. 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 acquiring an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 125.4% in the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,059,000 after acquiring an additional 750,500 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 2,780.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 700,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,423,000 after acquiring an additional 676,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 40.5% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,789,000 after acquiring an additional 623,417 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.08.

Southern Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE SO opened at $94.56 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.46. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $96.44. 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 company has a market capitalization of $104.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. Research analysts forecast 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 paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.