Bayforest Capital Ltd Boosts Stake in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 177.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,099 shares during the quarter. Southwest Gas makes up 0.7% of Bayforest Capital Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Bayforest Capital Ltd’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $888,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Spirit of America Management Corp NY grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 4,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 74.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 9,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 3,984 shares during the last quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 20,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,314 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on SWX shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Mizuho set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.40.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

SWX stock opened at $91.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12-month low of $66.93 and a 12-month high of $93.44. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.36.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $480.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.01 million. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Southwest Gas’s quarterly revenue was down 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.75%.

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.