Meeder Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Meeder Asset Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 79.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 24,472 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Comerica Bank increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 84,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,774,000 after acquiring an additional 13,623 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Gas during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,086,000. Horizon Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,361,000. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $986,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 177.3% in the 4th quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 11,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $888,000 after purchasing an additional 7,099 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SWX shares. Weiss Ratings raised Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southwest Gas from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.29.

Southwest Gas Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:SWX opened at $91.65 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.58. Southwest Gas Corporation has a twelve month low of $75.75 and a twelve month high of $94.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.58.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $585.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $695.52 million. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 19.95% and a return on equity of 6.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.58 earnings per share. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.27 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is 37.39%.

Southwest Gas 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.