Liberty One Investment Management LLC Lowers Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Liberty One Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 5.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 522 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $654,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SWX. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 72.2% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,550,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $111,290,000 after purchasing an additional 650,000 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Southwest Gas in the 1st quarter valued at $31,686,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 208.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 227,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,299,000 after purchasing an additional 153,637 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,021,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,376,000 after purchasing an additional 111,341 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 217.3% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 154,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,098,000 after purchasing an additional 105,852 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of Southwest Gas stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total transaction of $116,865,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 6,032,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,000,177.64. The trade was a 19.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SWX. Bank of America upgraded Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.33.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 1.2%

SWX stock opened at $79.36 on Tuesday. Southwest Gas Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $64.69 and a fifty-two week high of $80.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $78.41 and a 200-day moving average of $75.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.55.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 4.06%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is presently 92.54%.

About Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, distributes and transports natural gas in Arizona, Nevada, and California. The company operates through Natural Gas Distribution, Utility Infrastructure Services, and Pipeline and Storage segments. It also provides trenching, installation, and replacement of underground pipes, as well as maintenance services for energy distribution systems.