Insider Selling: Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) Major Shareholder Sells $116,865,000.00 in Stock

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) major shareholder Carl Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of Southwest Gas stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total transaction of $116,865,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,032,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,000,177.64. This represents a 19.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of SWX opened at $78.20 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a PE ratio of 29.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.55. Southwest Gas Corporation has a one year low of $64.69 and a one year high of $80.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $78.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.83.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 4.06%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is currently 92.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Gas

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SWX. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1,001.8% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 606 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Southwest Gas by 99.5% during the 1st quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 7,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Southwest Gas during the 1st quarter worth about $1,163,000. Optimize Financial Inc bought a new stake in Southwest Gas during the 1st quarter worth about $249,000. Finally, Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Southwest Gas during the 1st quarter worth about $332,000. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SWX shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.33.

About Southwest Gas

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.