Hsbc Holdings PLC Raises Holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 34.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 127,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 32,697 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $11,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SWX. Comerica Bank raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 84,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,774,000 after acquiring an additional 13,623 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas in the fourth quarter valued at $1,361,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the fourth quarter valued at $1,086,000. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the first quarter valued at $986,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its position in Southwest Gas by 177.3% during the 4th quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 11,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $888,000 after purchasing an additional 7,099 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SWX. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. 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 raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 0.8%

SWX opened at $92.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.76. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12 month low of $75.75 and a 12 month high of $94.46.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $585.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.52 million. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 19.95% and a return on equity of 6.95%. The company’s revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 37.39%.

Southwest Gas 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.