Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $807,000 Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its position in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 36.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,873 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southwest Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at about $63,338,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Southwest Gas by 78.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 404,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,970,000 after buying an additional 177,421 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 9.1% in the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,993,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,309,000 after buying an additional 167,114 shares during the last quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,942,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 74.7% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 209,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,073,000 after acquiring an additional 89,761 shares during the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Gas Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Southwest Gas stock opened at $87.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $82.88 and a 200-day moving average of $80.53. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52-week low of $64.69 and a 52-week high of $88.74. The stock has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a PE ratio of 13.60, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SWX has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho set a $96.00 price target on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Citigroup raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $99.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.40.

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.