Zacks Research Weighs in on Southern's Q1 Earnings (NYSE:SO)

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Zacks Research decreased their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for Southern in a research note issued on Monday, April 7th. Zacks Research analyst T. Saha now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $1.18 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.20. The consensus estimate for Southern's current full-year earnings is $4.29 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Southern's Q2 2025 earnings at $1.07 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.16 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.23 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.51 EPS.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.00.

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Southern Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of SO stock traded up $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $91.23. The stock had a trading volume of 699,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,539,576. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day moving average of $88.81 and a 200 day moving average of $87.26. Southern has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $100.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was 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, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SO. CX Institutional lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. CX Institutional now owns 8,109 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $746,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Southern by 2,780.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 700,628 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $64,423,000 after acquiring an additional 676,302 shares during the period. Oak Family Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter worth $220,000. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC now owns 7,640 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $702,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,798 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

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.