JPMorgan Chase & Co. Upgrades Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) to Overweight

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) was upgraded by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $100.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 11.22% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on SWX. Mizuho set a $96.00 price target on Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.67.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Southwest Gas stock opened at $89.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.45. Southwest Gas has a 52 week low of $66.93 and a 52 week high of $94.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $88.95 and a 200-day moving average of $84.46.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.03. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.95% and a net margin of 19.95%.The company had revenue of $585.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $695.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. Southwest Gas’s revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Gas will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,052,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $552,531,000 after purchasing an additional 19,403 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 2,048,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,885,000 after purchasing an additional 94,535 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 146.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,773,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,963 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $131,913,000 after purchasing an additional 228,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,602,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $128,219,000 after acquiring an additional 9,515 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

About Southwest Gas

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.