Alps Advisors Inc. Acquires New Shares in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 14,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,141,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 175,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,025,000 after purchasing an additional 10,150 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 30.6% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 224,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,599,000 after buying an additional 52,573 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the second quarter valued at $779,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 763,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,783,000 after acquiring an additional 14,875 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in Southwest Gas by 547.9% in the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 23,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,827,000 after acquiring an additional 19,720 shares during the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SWX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research raised Southwest Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho set a $96.00 target price on Southwest Gas in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup raised Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $82.00 to $99.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.40.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 2.9%

SWX opened at $85.92 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $81.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.15. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 1 year low of $64.69 and a 1 year high of $86.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.55.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.63%.

Southwest Gas 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.