Fifth Third Bancorp Has $5.88 Million Stock Holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 13,735.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 67,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,166 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $5,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SWX. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 74.7% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 209,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,073,000 after purchasing an additional 89,761 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 14.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 190,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,703,000 after buying an additional 24,688 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in Southwest Gas during the second quarter worth $213,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Southwest Gas by 70.3% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 36,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,726,000 after buying an additional 15,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 2.6% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 393,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,241,000 after buying an additional 10,122 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 $92.82 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Southwest Gas Corporation has a twelve month low of $75.75 and a twelve month high of $94.43. The company has a fifty day moving average of $89.02 and a 200-day moving average of $87.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.58.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $585.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.52 million. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 19.95% and a return on equity of 6.95%. Southwest Gas’s revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SWX. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group set a $100.00 price objective on Southwest Gas in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.29.

Southwest Gas Company Profile

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE: SWX) is a publicly traded natural gas utility that provides regulated gas distribution services to residential, commercial, industrial and electric generation customers. The company’s core activities include the transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas through an extensive network of pipelines, service lines and metering facilities. Southwest Gas also offers related services such as system maintenance, pipeline safety inspections, emergency response and line extensions to support customer growth and ensure reliable gas delivery.

Founded in 1931 in southern Nevada, Southwest Gas has grown through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion to become one of the nation’s larger natural gas utilities by customer count.