Research Analysts Issue Forecasts for Southern Q4 Earnings

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) – Equities researchers at KeyCorp issued their Q4 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Southern in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, October 15th. KeyCorp analyst S. Karp anticipates that the utilities provider will post earnings of $0.63 per share for the quarter. KeyCorp currently has a “Underweight” rating and a $87.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Southern’s current full-year earnings is $4.29 per share. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Southern’s FY2026 earnings at $4.57 EPS and FY2029 earnings at $5.53 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on SO. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.57.

Southern Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:SO opened at $98.44 on Thursday. Southern has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $100.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $108.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.95.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,725,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694,066 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,006,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,377,494,000 after acquiring an additional 241,572 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,179,715,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after acquiring an additional 107,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $621,567,000 after acquiring an additional 87,891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,010.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.