First Trust Advisors LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

First Trust Advisors LP cut its holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 546,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 34,377 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.76% of Southwest Gas worth $42,782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 905.3% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southwest Gas by 223.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Simplex Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Southwest Gas by 21.3% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Southwest Gas by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of SWX opened at $87.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.28. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 1 year low of $64.69 and a 1 year high of $90.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $84.97 and a 200-day moving average of $81.53. The company has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.63.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.40 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $480.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.01 million. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 14.77%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.39 earnings per share. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on SWX. Mizuho set a $96.00 price objective on Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $99.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Gas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.40.

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.