Bristlecone Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Bristlecone Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 521 shares during the quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,563,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Management Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Management Associates Inc. now owns 4,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust raised its stake in shares of Southern by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 7,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 926 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,565,858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,623,000 after acquiring an additional 403,929 shares during the period. Ferguson Shapiro LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $395,000. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $573,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.66.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $93.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $103.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.43. 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 Company has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.40.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.Southern’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. Equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.