Research Analysts Issue Forecasts for Southern Q4 Earnings

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research decreased their Q4 2025 EPS estimates for Southern in a research note issued on Monday, January 20th. Zacks Research analyst T. Saha now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $0.89 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.90. The consensus estimate for Southern’s current full-year earnings is $4.04 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Southern’s Q4 2026 earnings at $1.15 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on SO. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $82.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.38. Southern has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $90.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its position in Southern by 34.7% during the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. 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.