Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Analysts

Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $101.12.

SWX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $106.00 price target on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Southwest Gas from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Southwest Gas in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Mizuho set a $103.00 price objective on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, August 5th.

Insider Activity at Southwest Gas

In related news, SVP Julie Williams sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.81, for a total value of $204,525.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 26,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,163,874.50. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Gas

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas in the second quarter valued at approximately $991,549,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 2,126,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,830,000 after purchasing an additional 78,874 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 846,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,539,000 after purchasing an additional 86,456 shares during the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 106.9% during the 1st quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 699,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,797,000 after purchasing an additional 361,556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Gas by 281.2% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 459,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,887,000 after purchasing an additional 338,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Southwest Gas stock traded down $0.57 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $84.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,564 shares, compared to its average volume of 584,309. Southwest Gas has a 12 month low of $76.74 and a 12 month high of $94.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.31 and a 200 day moving average of $88.86. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 11.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.57. 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 (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.45. The business had revenue of $358.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.20 million. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 31.85% and a return on equity of 6.79%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.18) EPS. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Analysts predict that Southwest Gas will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.6450 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is presently 33.68%.

Southwest Gas Company Profile

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc (NYSE: SWX) is an energy company whose principal business is the regulated distribution of natural gas through its Southwest Gas Corporation subsidiary. The utility delivers natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and other customers, providing an essential energy service for heating, cooking and business operations.

Southwest Gas serves customers across portions of Arizona, Nevada and California through an extensive network of pipelines and related infrastructure.