Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Has $125,000 Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 35.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 746 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter worth about $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 125.4% during the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,059,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 40.5% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,789,000 after purchasing an additional 623,417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 71.4% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,200,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,253,000 after purchasing an additional 499,996 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH restated a “neutral” rating and set a $102.50 price target (up from $99.50) on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research started coverage on Southern in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.30.

Southern Trading Down 0.3%

SO stock opened at $95.86 on Friday. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $100.83. The firm has a market cap of $105.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $94.25 and its 200-day moving average is $92.28. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’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. Equities analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

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.