Aventail Capital Group LP Reduces Stock Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Aventail Capital Group LP reduced its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWXFree Report) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 49,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 12,661 shares during the period. Aventail Capital Group LP’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $3,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Gas during the 4th quarter worth $233,000. Nexpoint Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Southwest Gas during the 4th quarter worth $2,633,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Southwest Gas by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 604,268 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,353,000 after acquiring an additional 201,560 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Gas during the 4th quarter worth $245,000. Finally, Jain Global LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Gas during the 4th quarter worth $358,000. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $100.00 price target on Southwest Gas in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Mizuho upped their target price on Southwest Gas from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings raised Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Gas currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.29.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE:SWX opened at $87.17 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 1-year low of $72.43 and a 1-year high of $94.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $89.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.05.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWXGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $585.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.52 million. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.95% and a net margin of 19.95%.Southwest Gas’s quarterly revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is presently 37.39%.

About Southwest Gas

(Free Report)

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE: SWX) is a publicly traded natural gas utility that provides regulated gas distribution services to residential, commercial, industrial and electric generation customers. The company’s core activities include the transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas through an extensive network of pipelines, service lines and metering facilities. Southwest Gas also offers related services such as system maintenance, pipeline safety inspections, emergency response and line extensions to support customer growth and ensure reliable gas delivery.

Founded in 1931 in southern Nevada, Southwest Gas has grown through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion to become one of the nation’s larger natural gas utilities by customer count.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX)

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