Hennessy Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 108,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned 0.15% of Southwest Gas worth $8,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southwest Gas by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Southwest Gas by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 7,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $506,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 14,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,036,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SWX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Wall Street Zen raised Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Saturday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Gas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Gas

In related news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of Southwest Gas stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total value of $116,865,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 6,032,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,000,177.64. This trade represents a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

NYSE:SWX opened at $78.41 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.93. The stock has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.55. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52 week low of $64.69 and a 52 week high of $80.54.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 4.06%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.54%.

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.