Assetmark Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX)

Assetmark Inc. lessened its holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 10.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 290 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,541 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 83.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 505,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,748,000 after buying an additional 229,739 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,516,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 30,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,128,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,322,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $234,905,000 after acquiring an additional 105,549 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on SWX shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Southwest Gas from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Southwest Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $74.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.25.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Shares of SWX opened at $77.81 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $74.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.84. The company has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.49. Southwest Gas Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $64.31 and a fifty-two week high of $80.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 4.66%. The company’s revenue was down 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

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.