ProShare Advisors LLC Has $33.35 Million Stock Position in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 471,659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,919 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $33,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,696,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $473,520,000 after purchasing an additional 38,710 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Southwest Gas by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,322,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $234,905,000 after buying an additional 105,549 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Southwest Gas by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,270,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,807,000 after buying an additional 4,235 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Southwest Gas by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,030,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,850,000 after buying an additional 27,407 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Gas by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,054,000 after buying an additional 12,913 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 2,100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total transaction of $156,660,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,532,604 shares in the company, valued at $561,932,258.40. The trade was a 21.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Southwest Gas from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Southwest Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Southwest Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Gas presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of Southwest Gas stock opened at $69.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.48. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $64.31 and a one year high of $80.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $72.42 and its 200-day moving average is $73.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is currently 79.74%.

About Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, distributes and transports natural gas in Arizona, Nevada, and California. The company operates through Natural Gas Distribution, Utility Infrastructure Services, and Pipeline and Storage segments. It also provides trenching, installation, and replacement of underground pipes, as well as maintenance services for energy distribution systems.