KBC Group NV Cuts Stake in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

KBC Group NV cut its position in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,328 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Trust Co. NA bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Simplex Trading LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 144.0% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 118.3% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 194.6% during the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SWX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Southwest Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Bank of America raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total value of $116,865,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 6,032,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,000,177.64. This trade represents a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SWX opened at $80.47 on Friday. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12-month low of $64.69 and a 12-month high of $82.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $79.40 and a 200 day moving average of $76.78.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.03). Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 4.06%.The business had revenue of $316.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.09 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is currently 38.63%.

Southwest Gas Profile

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.