Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.65

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of 0.645 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, June 1st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This is a 4.0% increase from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62.

Southwest Gas has increased its dividend by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years. Southwest Gas has a payout ratio of 60.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Southwest Gas to earn $3.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.2%.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Shares of Southwest Gas stock opened at $90.99 on Thursday. Southwest Gas has a one year low of $66.93 and a one year high of $93.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $87.63 and its 200 day moving average is $83.18. The stock has a market cap of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by ($0.04). Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 14.77%.The company had revenue of $480.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.39 earnings per share. Southwest Gas’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SWX shares. Mizuho set a $96.00 target price on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Citigroup raised Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $99.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.40.

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.