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

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 94,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,701 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $7,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 905.3% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Southwest Gas by 223.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. bought a new stake in Southwest Gas in the 4th quarter worth about $56,000. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 301.0% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Southwest Gas Stock Up 2.1%

Southwest Gas stock opened at $90.88 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $89.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Southwest Gas Corporation has a twelve month low of $72.43 and a twelve month high of $94.43. The company has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.03. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 19.95% and a return on equity of 6.95%. The company had revenue of $585.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $695.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. Southwest Gas’s revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is currently 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.