Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Sells 36,468 Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lowered its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 782,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 36,468 shares during the quarter. Southwest Gas accounts for approximately 0.7% of Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $68,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SWX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southwest Gas in the 4th quarter valued at about $66,930,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new position in Southwest Gas in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,052,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,648,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,913,000 after acquiring an additional 228,496 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Southwest Gas in the third quarter valued at approximately $16,200,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 604,268 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,353,000 after acquiring an additional 201,560 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

SWX stock opened at $93.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.88. The company has a market capitalization of $6.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.58. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52-week low of $75.75 and a 52-week high of $94.46.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.03. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.95% and a net margin of 19.95%.The firm had revenue of $585.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $695.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.58 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Research analysts expect that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SWX has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group set a $100.00 target price on Southwest Gas in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

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.