Hennessy Advisors Inc. Acquires 2,800 Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 108,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $8,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 20.9% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 5.0% during the second quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 2.8% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 7,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $506,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.4% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 14,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,036,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.2% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.33.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SWX opened at $78.41 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $78.42 and a 200 day moving average of $74.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52 week low of $64.69 and a 52 week high of $80.54. The company has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued 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%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Gas

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of Southwest Gas stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total value of $116,865,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,032,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,000,177.64. The trade was a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Company 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.