Geode Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,544,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,318 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $114,902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Southwest Gas by 367.7% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 1,445 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 20,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,548,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 39.9% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 31,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,366,000 after acquiring an additional 9,087 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,961,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 476.5% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 17,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 14,620 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on SWX. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho initiated coverage on Southwest Gas in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America raised Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.50.

Insider Activity at Southwest Gas

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider owned 6,032,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,000,177.64. This represents a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

SWX stock opened at $80.38 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $79.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.72. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12-month low of $64.69 and a 12-month high of $82.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a PE ratio of 29.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.62 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.63%.

Southwest Gas 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.