Zacks Research Issues Negative Outlook for Southern Earnings

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Research analysts at Zacks Research decreased their FY2025 earnings estimates for Southern in a research note issued on Wednesday, March 12th. Zacks Research analyst T. Saha now forecasts that the utilities provider will earn $4.27 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $4.29. The consensus estimate for Southern’s current full-year earnings is $4.29 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Southern’s Q4 2025 earnings at $0.60 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.11 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $1.06 EPS.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Down 0.4 %

SO stock opened at $90.22 on Monday. Southern has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.95 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

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.