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

Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $97.00.

SWX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Gas

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SWX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 146.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,773,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,902,000 after buying an additional 1,054,963 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Southwest Gas during the fourth quarter worth $66,930,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 106.9% during the first quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 699,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,797,000 after buying an additional 361,556 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 281.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 459,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,887,000 after buying an additional 338,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 176.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 501,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,307,000 after buying an additional 320,145 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southwest Gas Stock Down 2.2%

NYSE:SWX opened at $87.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.62. Southwest Gas has a twelve month low of $67.65 and a twelve month high of $94.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $89.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.80.

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

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is currently 35.94%.

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.