Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $98.2857.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Mizuho set a $103.00 price target on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, August 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SWX. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Southwest Gas by 223.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. purchased a new position in Southwest Gas during the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 301.0% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

NYSE SWX traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $89.64. 6,007 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 563,462. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.09. Southwest Gas has a 1 year low of $76.17 and a 1 year high of $94.46. The company has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.57.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45. The firm had revenue of $358.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.20 million. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 31.85% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Southwest Gas will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.68%.

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.