M&T Bank Corp Has $813,000 Stock Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 256.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,311 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 905.3% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 223.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 21.3% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Gas in the third quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Southwest Gas in the third quarter valued at approximately $94,000. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $82.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen cut Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Mizuho set a $96.00 price target on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.40.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

SWX stock opened at $94.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $88.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.08. Southwest Gas Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $66.93 and a fifty-two week high of $94.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.60.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.40 by ($0.04). Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 14.77%.The company had revenue of $480.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Analysts forecast that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.75%.

About Southwest Gas

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.