Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys 9,701 Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 94,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,701 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.13% of Southwest Gas worth $7,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 10,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $835,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 14,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,160,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Southwest Gas by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 17,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,375,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Southwest Gas by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on SWX shares. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report 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 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group set a $100.00 target price on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.29.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of SWX opened at $91.12 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $89.07 and its 200 day moving average is $86.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12-month low of $73.92 and a 12-month high of $94.43. The company has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a PE ratio of 13.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 37.39%.

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.