Southwest Gas Stock Gets Lower EPS Estimate from Scotiabank

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) – Equities researchers at Scotiabank dropped their FY2026 earnings estimates for Southwest Gas in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, November 11th. Scotiabank analyst I. Rapp now anticipates that the utilities provider will earn $4.26 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $4.29. Scotiabank currently has a “Sector Outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Southwest Gas’ current full-year earnings is $4.27 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for Southwest Gas’ FY2027 earnings at $4.97 EPS.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $298.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $346.50 million. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 17.23% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.74 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on SWX. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Southwest Gas from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $106.00 price target on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Southwest Gas from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Mizuho set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and seven have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.25.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

SWX opened at $93.02 on Friday. Southwest Gas has a 52-week low of $78.37 and a 52-week high of $94.46. The stock has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.69, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $87.41 and a 200 day moving average of $88.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Gas

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at $991,549,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 2,126,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,830,000 after purchasing an additional 78,874 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 954,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,817,000 after purchasing an additional 3,494 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 846,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,539,000 after purchasing an additional 86,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in Southwest Gas by 0.3% during the third quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 766,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,492,000 after purchasing an additional 2,207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Julie Williams sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.81, for a total value of $204,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 26,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,163,874.50. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.6450 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.93%.

About Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas provides regulated natural gas distribution service to homes and businesses in the southwestern United States. Its utility operations include delivering natural gas through local pipeline networks and maintaining the infrastructure needed to serve customers. The company serves customers in Arizona and Nevada, as well as parts of California. Its service area includes major metropolitan regions and smaller communities across these states. Southwest Gas traces its history to 1931 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.