Analysts Set Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Price Target at $84.50

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $84.50.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho began coverage on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, August 29th.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Gas

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total transaction of $116,865,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 6,032,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,000,177.64. This trade represents a 19.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Gas

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Southwest Gas by 146.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,773,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,963 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter worth about $63,338,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its position in Southwest Gas by 72.2% during the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,550,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,290,000 after purchasing an additional 650,000 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 176.3% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 501,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,307,000 after buying an additional 320,145 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 32.1% during the third 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 during the period. 92.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southwest Gas Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:SWX opened at $80.75 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.63. Southwest Gas has a 1-year low of $64.69 and a 1-year high of $83.23. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $80.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.32.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $316.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 6.78%. Southwest Gas’s revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.09 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is presently 38.63%.

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.