River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 176,935 Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

River Road Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 16.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 927,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 176,935 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $74,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 10,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $835,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 14,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,160,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 17,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,375,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 21.3% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SWX. Mizuho increased their price objective on Southwest Gas from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen raised Southwest Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group set a $100.00 price target on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research report 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 issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $97.29.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

NYSE SWX opened at $88.30 on Friday. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52-week low of $72.43 and a 52-week high of $94.43. 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $89.45 and a 200-day moving average of $86.09.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $585.12 million during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This is an increase from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.39%.

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.