Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $3.12 Million in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 44,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,117,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SWX. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 192.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,755,000 after purchasing an additional 69,212 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 54.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,832 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,979 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SWX has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southwest Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Southwest Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Southwest Gas from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $69.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.25.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of SWX opened at $70.84 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.42. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.31 and a 12 month high of $80.29.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.74%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Gas

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 2,100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total transaction of $156,660,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,532,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $561,932,258.40. This represents a 21.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Profile

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, distributes and transports natural gas in Arizona, Nevada, and California. The company operates through Natural Gas Distribution, Utility Infrastructure Services, and Pipeline and Storage segments. It also provides trenching, installation, and replacement of underground pipes, as well as maintenance services for energy distribution systems.