Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Purchases 36,531 Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 51.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,531 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board owned about 0.15% of Southwest Gas worth $7,962,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 1,015.2% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $383,000 after buying an additional 4,690 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas in the second quarter valued at about $779,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 8.0% during the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,494 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,000 after acquiring an additional 779 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 2.0% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 763,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,783,000 after acquiring an additional 14,875 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas in the second quarter worth approximately $381,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Trading Down 0.3%

SWX opened at $81.18 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $79.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.57. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 1-year low of $64.69 and a 1-year high of $82.51. The company has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.29, 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.

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

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.63%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Gas

In related news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 6,032,604 shares in the company, valued at $470,000,177.64. This trade represents a 19.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.