Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX Shares Bought by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. raised its position in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 62.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,312 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $1,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 9.1% during 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 period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 70,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 7.7% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,048,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,998,000 after buying an additional 75,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 12.2% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,021,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,376,000 after buying an additional 111,341 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SWX opened at $80.05 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.65. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52 week low of $64.69 and a 52 week high of $83.23.

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 6.78% and a net margin of 11.59%.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 predict that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is currently 38.63%.

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.