Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX Stock Position Raised by Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SWX. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 1,055.0% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 144.0% in the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1,001.8% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 606 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 118.3% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 194.6% in the 2nd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider owned 6,032,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,000,177.64. The trade was a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southwest Gas Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE SWX opened at $79.36 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.36. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52 week low of $64.69 and a 52 week high of $80.57. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. 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, Zacks Research cut shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.33.

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.