Norges Bank Buys New Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 836,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $66,930,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 146.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,773,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,963 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 176.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 501,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,307,000 after acquiring an additional 320,145 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 930,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,911,000 after acquiring an additional 226,231 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 84,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,774,000 after acquiring an additional 13,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Gas in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,086,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SWX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho set a $96.00 target price on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. UBS Group set a $100.00 target price on Southwest Gas in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Southwest Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Gas currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $97.00.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE:SWX opened at $88.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.58. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12-month low of $70.03 and a 12-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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.59.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $585.12 million for 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 was down 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This is a boost from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.39%.

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.