Clear Creek Financial Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Clear Creek Financial Management LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SWX. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 72.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 650,000 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas in the first quarter valued at about $31,686,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 208.2% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 227,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,299,000 after purchasing an additional 153,637 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 12.2% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,021,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,376,000 after buying an additional 111,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 217.3% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 154,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,098,000 after buying an additional 105,852 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total value of $116,865,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SWX shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.33.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of SWX stock opened at $78.46 on Friday. Southwest Gas Corporation has a one year low of $64.69 and a one year high of $80.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 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.