Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

SWX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho increased their target price on Southwest Gas from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $97.29.

Southwest Gas Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Southwest Gas stock opened at $88.30 on Friday. Southwest Gas has a twelve month low of $72.43 and a twelve month high of $94.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $89.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.10. The firm has a market cap of $6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.58.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.03. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.95% and a net margin of 19.95%.The company had revenue of $585.12 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $695.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Gas by 905.3% during the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 223.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas in the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 301.0% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 21.3% during the second 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. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.