Jacobsen Capital Management Purchases Shares of 2,880 Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Jacobsen Capital Management acquired a new stake in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SWX. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its position in Southwest Gas by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,826,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,147,000 after acquiring an additional 16,894 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 72.2% during the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,550,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $111,290,000 after buying an additional 650,000 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP grew its holdings in Southwest Gas by 12.2% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,021,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,376,000 after buying an additional 111,341 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Southwest Gas during the 1st quarter valued at $31,686,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 382,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,496,000 after acquiring an additional 16,483 shares during the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SWX. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Zacks Research downgraded Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Bank of America upgraded Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.33.

Southwest Gas Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of SWX stock opened at $79.41 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50 day moving average of $78.40 and a 200-day moving average of $75.39. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12-month low of $64.69 and a 12-month high of $80.57.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.11. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 4.06%.The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. Southwest Gas’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.54%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Gas

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total transaction of $116,865,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 6,032,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,000,177.64. This represents a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

About Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, distributes and transports natural gas in Arizona, Nevada, and California. The company operates through Natural Gas Distribution, Utility Infrastructure Services, and Pipeline and Storage segments. It also provides trenching, installation, and replacement of underground pipes, as well as maintenance services for energy distribution systems.