Fox Run Management L.L.C. Makes New $270,000 Investment in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 1,015.2% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 4,690 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in Southwest Gas during the second quarter worth about $779,000. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 8.0% during the second 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 2.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 763,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,783,000 after acquiring an additional 14,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $381,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Gas

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total transaction of $116,865,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 6,032,604 shares in the company, valued at $470,000,177.64. The trade was a 19.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on SWX. Bank of America upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, August 29th. Zacks Research raised Southwest Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings raised Southwest Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $91.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.50.

Southwest Gas Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:SWX opened at $81.31 on Friday. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12-month low of $64.69 and a 12-month high of $82.51. The firm has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.48.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $316.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 4.06%.Southwest Gas’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.63%.

Southwest Gas Profile

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, distributes and transports natural gas in Arizona, Nevada, and California. The company operates through Natural Gas Distribution, Utility Infrastructure Services, and Pipeline and Storage segments. It also provides trenching, installation, and replacement of underground pipes, as well as maintenance services for energy distribution systems.