Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Short Interest Update

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,277,877 shares, an increase of 21.3% from the February 26th total of 1,053,173 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 533,157 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SWX. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho set a $96.00 price objective on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $99.00 in a research 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 given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.40.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SWX opened at $86.85 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.22, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The company’s fifty day moving average is $86.02 and its 200 day moving average is $82.32. Southwest Gas has a 52 week low of $64.69 and a 52 week high of $90.00.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly 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). 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $587.01 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Gas

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 905.3% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 223.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Southwest Gas in the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,000. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 301.0% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 21.3% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Southwest Gas

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.