Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 82.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,189 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SWX. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Gas during the second quarter worth $422,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 175,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,025,000 after buying an additional 10,150 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter worth $779,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 763,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,783,000 after buying an additional 14,875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,494 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 779 shares during the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SWX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup upgraded Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $99.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Zacks Research raised Southwest Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Southwest Gas in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $91.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.40.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of SWX opened at $82.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.65. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $81.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.87. Southwest Gas Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $64.69 and a fifty-two week high of $86.75.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.03). Southwest Gas had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 6.78%. The business had revenue of $316.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.09 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.63%.

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.