Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) Stock Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $78.64 and traded as high as $81.53. Southwest Gas shares last traded at $80.6820, with a volume of 290,129 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SWX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Monday. Mizuho initiated coverage on Southwest Gas in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.50.

Southwest Gas Trading Down 0.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $80.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.64. The stock has a market cap of $5.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.63.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $316.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.78% and a net margin of 11.59%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.09 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.63%.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Gas

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,052,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $552,531,000 after acquiring an additional 19,403 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,993,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,309,000 after acquiring an additional 167,114 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Southwest Gas by 146.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,773,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,902,000 after buying an additional 1,054,963 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 4.5% during the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,620,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $120,512,000 after acquiring an additional 70,000 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 3.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,544,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $114,902,000 after purchasing an additional 54,318 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

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.