Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank cut its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 109,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.15% of Southwest Gas worth $8,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SWX. Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter valued at about $674,000. PAX Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Gas during the second quarter worth about $252,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in Southwest Gas by 28.5% during the second quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 3,599 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its position in Southwest Gas by 51.8% during the second quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 107,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,962,000 after acquiring an additional 36,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 13.8% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 46,268 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,442,000 after acquiring an additional 5,598 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

NYSE:SWX opened at $83.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average of $79.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.99 billion, a PE ratio of 30.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.57. Southwest Gas Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $64.69 and a fifty-two week high of $83.11.

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

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is presently 38.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 6,032,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,000,177.64. This represents a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SWX. Zacks Research raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Bank of America raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on Southwest Gas in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $91.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.50.

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.