Southern Company (SO)

The Southern Company's stock price has increased by 5.12% over the last six months and 3.93% over the past year, reaching an all-time high of $100.84 on October 15, 2025. The company consistently pays quarterly dividends, with the most recent being $0.74 per share. Southern reported earnings of $0.91 per share for the last quarter, missing estimates, but revenue exceeded expectations at $6.97 billion. Analyst ratings and price targets have been updated by Morgan Stanley, BTIG, Jefferies, Scotiabank and RBC Capital. The stock has been influenced by increasing demand for electricity from data centers, AI, and cloud computing expansion.

Demand for The Southern Company's products and services, particularly electricity, exhibits seasonality. Electric sales can spike due to winter weather, though weather-normalized sales growth was lower. Industrial sales are less impacted by weather. The company's system reliably served a historic amount of electricity during Winter Storm Heather. Demand for electricity also increases during warmer months due to air conditioning usage. The company forecasts future demand based on customer interactions, utility choices, and historical data.

The Southern Company operates in the Utilities sector, focusing on regulated electric and gas distribution, with interests in Telecommunications. Its core business includes electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, as well as natural gas distribution. The company uses a diverse portfolio of energy sources, manages power generation assets, and sells electricity wholesale. Through Southern Company Gas, it distributes natural gas and provides gas marketing services. Additionally, The Southern Company offers distributed energy and resilience solutions, digital wireless communications, fiber optics services, and deploys microgrids.

The Southern Company serves approximately 9 million gas and electric utility customers across six U.S. states. Its regulated regional electric utilities serve a 120,000-square-mile territory in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. Southern Company Gas distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee. Southern Power serves wholesale electricity customers nationwide. The company also has ownership interests in natural gas supply pipelines connecting hydrocarbon basins in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

The Southern Company has maintained a strong brand reputation, being recognized as Fortune Magazine's #1 most-admired electric and gas utility company worldwide. Georgia Power was ranked as the leading utility in the South for Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction by J.D. Power. Southern Company received a top score on the Disability Equality Index®, earning recognition as a "Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion". Key events impacting its reputation include the completion of Plant Vogtle's nuclear expansion project and resilience during Hurricane Helene. The company has faced scrutiny regarding its stance and funding related to climate change denial campaigns in the past and its decision to reconsider extending the life of coal-fired power plants.

Institutional investors hold a significant majority stake in The Southern Company, with approximately 70-71% ownership. Major institutional owners include Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock, Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co, State Street Corp, Geode Capital Management, LLC, Capital International Investors, Fmr LLC, and Massachusetts Financial Services Co /ma/. Individual investors hold a much smaller percentage, around 0.11%. Insiders have been selling shares recently.