FY2024 EPS Estimates for Southern Boosted by Zacks Research

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research increased their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for Southern in a research note issued on Thursday, October 17th. Zacks Research analyst T. Saha now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings of $3.99 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $3.98. The consensus estimate for Southern’s current full-year earnings is $4.02 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Southern’s Q1 2025 earnings at $1.04 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.03 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $1.17 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.07.

Southern Stock Up 0.5 %

Southern stock opened at $92.72 on Friday. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $64.53 and a fifty-two week high of $92.85. The company has a market cap of $101.38 billion, a PE ratio of 22.08, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.57%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,945 shares of company stock valued at $3,488,826. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Southern by 45.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,570 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Southern by 2,719.7% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,670,000 after buying an additional 841,435 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 7,657.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,304,000 after acquiring an additional 563,785 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 35.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,929,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,457,000 after acquiring an additional 500,000 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,180,430,000 after acquiring an additional 481,071 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.