Legal & General Group Plc Purchases Shares of 200,354 Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 200,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,767,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 223.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Gas in the 4th quarter valued at about $56,000. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 301.0% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 21.3% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Gas Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE SWX opened at $88.94 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12 month low of $76.59 and a 12 month high of $94.46. The company has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $90.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.33.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.45. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.79% and a net margin of 31.85%.The company had revenue of $358.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.20 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.18) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SWX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho set a $103.00 target price on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Southwest Gas from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.67.

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.