Bank of Montreal Can Sells 1,576 Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Bank of Montreal Can decreased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,774 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,576 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $2,140,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SWX. Strs Ohio boosted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 11.1% in the second quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 18,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in Southwest Gas by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 5,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 73,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,492,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Southwest Gas by 27.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider owned 6,032,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,000,177.64. This trade represents a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Shares of SWX stock opened at $81.72 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.45. Southwest Gas Corporation has a one year low of $64.69 and a one year high of $82.51. The firm has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

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

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is 38.63%.

Southwest Gas Company 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.