Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Receives $97.29 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $97.2857.

SWX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Southwest Gas in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southwest Gas from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. UBS Group set a $100.00 price target on Southwest Gas in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th.

Southwest Gas Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:SWX traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $91.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 297,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 623,500. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.07. Southwest Gas has a twelve month low of $75.75 and a twelve month high of $94.43.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.03. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 19.95% and a return on equity of 6.95%. The business had revenue of $585.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Southwest Gas will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is 37.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Gas

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the 4th quarter valued at about $66,930,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its position in Southwest Gas by 106.9% in the first quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 699,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,797,000 after acquiring an additional 361,556 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Southwest Gas by 281.2% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 459,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,887,000 after acquiring an additional 338,600 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 176.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 501,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,307,000 after purchasing an additional 320,145 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,648,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,913,000 after purchasing an additional 228,496 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

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.