Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on SWX. Weiss Ratings downgraded Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, September 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Southwest Gas from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Mizuho set a $103.00 price target on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.20.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of SWX stock opened at $81.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $89.06 and a 200 day moving average of $89.12. Southwest Gas has a 1 year low of $76.74 and a 1 year high of $94.46.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.45. The business had revenue of $358.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.20 million. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.79% and a net margin of 31.85%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.18) EPS. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Southwest Gas will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.6450 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Gas

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 54.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 395,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,355,000 after acquiring an additional 139,872 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 204.5% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 38,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,309,000 after acquiring an additional 25,569 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,799,000. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the 1st quarter valued at about $986,000. Finally, Odyssean LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 616.6% in the 2nd quarter. Odyssean LLC now owns 17,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,523,000 after purchasing an additional 14,781 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

About Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc is a regulated energy company that provides natural gas distribution services through its subsidiary, Southwest Gas Corporation. The utility delivers natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers, primarily in Arizona, Nevada and portions of California, serving communities across the desert Southwest.

The company’s utility operations include the acquisition, transportation and distribution of natural gas through a network of pipelines and related infrastructure.