Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Sell

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on SWX. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, September 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.83.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

NYSE:SWX opened at $82.71 on Friday. Southwest Gas has a 1-year low of $76.74 and a 1-year high of $94.46. The stock has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

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

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.6450 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Julie Williams sold 2,500 shares of Southwest Gas stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.81, for a total value of $204,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 26,450 shares in the company, valued at $2,163,874.50. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Gas

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SWX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Southwest Gas in the 2nd quarter worth about $991,549,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 2,126,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,830,000 after buying an additional 78,874 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Southwest Gas in the second quarter worth $74,324,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southwest Gas in the fourth quarter worth $66,930,000. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 106.9% in the first quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 699,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,797,000 after acquiring an additional 361,556 shares during the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc (NYSE: SWX) is an energy company whose principal business is the regulated distribution of natural gas through its Southwest Gas Corporation subsidiary. The utility delivers natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and other customers, providing an essential energy service for heating, cooking and business operations.

Southwest Gas serves customers across portions of Arizona, Nevada and California through an extensive network of pipelines and related infrastructure.