Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 39,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 911 shares during the quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 buying an additional 1,419,724 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after buying an additional 107,394 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,680,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,297,000 after buying an additional 81,066 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at about $510,229,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 4.1% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,046,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,107,000 after buying an additional 120,816 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $98.23 on Friday. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-month high of $98.36. The stock has a market cap of $108.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $93.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.71. 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 (NYSE:SO) last announced 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 company had revenue of $6.97 billion for 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.