Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

by · The Markets Daily

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX – Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $84.50.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on SWX shares. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $91.00 target price 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, December 29th.

View Our Latest Research Report on Southwest Gas

Institutional Trading of Southwest Gas

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,052,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $552,531,000 after purchasing an additional 19,403 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 9.1% in the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,993,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,309,000 after buying an additional 167,114 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Southwest Gas by 146.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,773,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,963 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings in Southwest Gas by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,620,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $120,512,000 after acquiring an additional 70,000 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,544,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $114,902,000 after acquiring an additional 54,318 shares during the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SWX opened at $81.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $80.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.96. Southwest Gas has a fifty-two week low of $64.69 and a fifty-two week high of $83.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.65.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.03). Southwest Gas had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 6.78%. The firm had revenue of $316.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Southwest Gas will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

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

Southwest Gas Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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