Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Moseley Investment Management Inc.

Moseley Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 15.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 846 shares during the quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 275.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $96.11 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $96.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.73 billion, a PE ratio of 24.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.77.

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.