Geode Capital Management LLC Has $128.22 Million Holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,602,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,515 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.22% of Southwest Gas worth $128,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SWX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Southwest Gas by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,052,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $552,531,000 after purchasing an additional 19,403 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Southwest Gas by 146.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,773,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,963 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Southwest Gas by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,054,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $82,637,000 after purchasing an additional 10,015 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its position in Southwest Gas by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,014,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,163,000 after acquiring an additional 4,145 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 32.1% during the third quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 930,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,911,000 after acquiring an additional 226,231 shares during the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group set a $100.00 price target on Southwest Gas in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Two investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $97.00.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SWX opened at $87.18 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $89.33 and its 200 day moving average is $85.57. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52 week low of $70.03 and a 52 week high of $94.43. The stock has a market cap of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.58. 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 (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.03. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 19.95% and a return on equity of 6.95%. The company had revenue of $585.12 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $695.52 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is 37.39%.

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.