Man Group plc Takes Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Man Group plc bought a new position in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 110,713 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,818,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SWX. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Southwest Gas in the second quarter valued at about $2,384,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,513,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter worth about $17,767,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,781,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC lifted its position in Southwest Gas by 58.9% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 334,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,676,000 after purchasing an additional 124,069 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SWX has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group set a $100.00 target price on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Southwest Gas from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.67.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Shares of SWX opened at $88.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.57. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 1 year low of $76.59 and a 1 year high of $94.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $90.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45. The company had revenue of $358.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.20 million. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.79% and a net margin of 31.85%.Southwest Gas’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.68%.

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.