Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 3.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 365 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 41.9% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 206,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,506,000 after purchasing an additional 60,856 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,349,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Southwest Gas by 3.0% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 267,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,737,000 after acquiring an additional 7,858 shares during the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 134,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,926,000 after acquiring an additional 17,227 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at $503,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE SWX opened at $78.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $74.75 and a 200-day moving average of $73.69. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.55 and a 52-week high of $80.29.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,390,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 9,632,604 shares in the company, valued at $739,206,030.96. The trade was a 12.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SWX. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Southwest Gas from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Southwest Gas from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th.

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.