Fox Run Management L.L.C. Makes New Investment in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 152 shares during the period. BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 5.0% in the second quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 10,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.2% during the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Spirit of America Management Corp NY increased its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 3,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Southwest Gas

In related news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of Southwest Gas stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total transaction of $116,865,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 6,032,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,000,177.64. This trade represents a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SWX shares. Zacks Research upgraded Southwest Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $91.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Gas currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.50.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Southwest Gas stock opened at $81.31 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.34, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.57. 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 $82.51.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.03). Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 4.06%.The business had revenue of $316.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.09 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 38.63%.

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.