Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $807,000 Stock Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its position in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 36.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,873 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 1.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 8,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 44,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,280,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,870,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SWX. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $99.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Mizuho set a $96.00 target price on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.40.

Southwest Gas Trading Up 0.7%

Southwest Gas stock opened at $87.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $82.88 and a 200-day moving average of $80.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.43. Southwest Gas Corporation has a one year low of $64.69 and a one year high of $88.74.

About Southwest Gas

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.