Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $88.40.

A number of research firms have weighed in on SWX. Mizuho set a $96.00 target price on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SWX opened at $89.86 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Southwest Gas has a 1 year low of $66.93 and a 1 year high of $93.44.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $480.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.01 million. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 14.77%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.39 EPS. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Southwest Gas will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This is a boost from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is presently 37.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Gas

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the first quarter worth $1,616,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 11.0% during the first quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the first quarter worth $279,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 13.8% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 94,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,566,000 after purchasing an additional 9,701 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

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.