Analysts Set Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Price Target at $88.40

Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $88.40.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Citigroup upgraded shares of 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 research report on Thursday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $96.00 price target on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SWX opened at $90.58 on Tuesday. Southwest Gas has a 12-month low of $66.93 and a 12-month high of $93.44. The company has a market cap of $6.55 billion, a PE ratio of 13.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.40 by ($0.04). Southwest Gas had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $480.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Gas will post 4.26 EPS 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 dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 37.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Gas

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SWX. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in 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 worth $17,599,000 after buying an additional 52,573 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 930,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,911,000 after acquiring an additional 226,231 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 146.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,773,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,963 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 547.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 176.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 501,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,307,000 after acquiring an additional 320,145 shares during the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.