Legal & General Group Plc reduced its holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX – Free Report) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 101,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 32,122 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $8,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SWX. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 74.7% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 209,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,073,000 after purchasing an additional 89,761 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 14.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 190,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,703,000 after acquiring an additional 24,688 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the second quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 70.3% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 36,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,726,000 after acquiring an additional 15,127 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 2.6% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 393,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,241,000 after acquiring an additional 10,122 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group set a $100.00 price target on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho set a $96.00 price target on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $97.00.
Southwest Gas Stock Performance
Shares of SWX opened at $88.72 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $89.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.59. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52 week low of $70.03 and a 52 week high of $94.43. The company has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.45.
Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.03. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 19.95% and a return on equity of 6.95%. The firm had revenue of $585.12 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $695.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Research analysts expect that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Southwest Gas Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed 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 boost from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is presently 37.39%.
Southwest Gas Company Profile
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.
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