Southern (NYSE:SO) Cut to “Underweight” at KeyCorp

KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) from a sector weight rating to an underweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $78.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Southern’s Q2 2025 earnings at $1.19 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.11 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $4.30 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.56 EPS.

SO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.21.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $88.72 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $89.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.18. Southern has a one year low of $76.64 and a one year high of $94.45. 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 stock has a market cap of $97.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, 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 transaction 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 $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 952 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 7,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Breakwater Capital Group grew its position in Southern by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 7,458 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Southern by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 21,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,740,000 after buying an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,437,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

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.