Wall Street Zen Upgrades Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) to “Buy”

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

SWX has been the subject of a number of other reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Southwest Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America raised shares of Southwest Gas from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $69.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.00.

Southwest Gas Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of SWX opened at $71.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $71.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.63, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Southwest Gas has a 1-year low of $64.31 and a 1-year high of $80.29.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 2,100,000 shares of Southwest Gas 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,532,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $561,932,258.40. The trade was a 21.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,696,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $473,520,000 after buying an additional 38,710 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,322,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $234,905,000 after purchasing an additional 105,549 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.9% during the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,826,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,147,000 after purchasing an additional 16,894 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 72.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,270,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,807,000 after purchasing an additional 4,235 shares during the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southwest Gas Company 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.