Central Pacific Bank Trust Division Grows Position in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 9,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $484,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 88.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 9,705 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 49.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,027,000 after buying an additional 19,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 192.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,755,000 after buying an additional 69,212 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on SWX. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Southwest Gas from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Friday, December 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,390,000 shares of Southwest Gas stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.74, for a total value of $106,668,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,632,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $739,206,030.96. This trade represents a 12.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of SWX stock opened at $71.34 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.24. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.55 and a 52 week high of $80.29. The stock has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.77, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Southwest Gas Company Profile

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.