First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Stock Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 489,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 13,795 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.68% of Southwest Gas worth $42,557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SWX. Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 2,048,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,885,000 after purchasing an additional 94,535 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,648,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,913,000 after purchasing an additional 228,496 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,602,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $128,219,000 after purchasing an additional 9,515 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,060,751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,883,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,014,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,163,000 after purchasing an additional 4,145 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

NYSE:SWX opened at $92.07 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.58. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52-week low of $75.75 and a 52-week high of $94.46.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.03. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.95% and a net margin of 19.95%.The company had revenue of $585.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $695.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Analysts forecast that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.27 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 37.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SWX. Wall Street Zen raised Southwest Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.29.

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.