Man Group plc Has $5.66 Million Holdings in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

Man Group plc reduced its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 15.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 79,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 14,063 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $5,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SWX. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 192.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,755,000 after buying an additional 69,212 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 127,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,981,000 after buying an additional 1,091 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 54.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,832 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SWX. StockNews.com cut shares of Southwest Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Southwest Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.00.

Southwest Gas Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:SWX opened at $71.04 on Wednesday. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.31 and a 12 month high of $80.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $72.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.48.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.04. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 2,100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total value of $156,660,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,532,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $561,932,258.40. This trade represents a 21.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Profile

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.