Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Has $64 Million Stake in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 860,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,595 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $64,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SWX. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Gas by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 5.0% during the second quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 10,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $794,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 19.7% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,686 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spirit of America Management Corp NY increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 9.5% in the second quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 3,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.91, for a total value of $116,865,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 6,032,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,000,177.64. This trade represents a 19.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho began coverage on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $91.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America upgraded Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Southwest Gas from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Zacks Research raised Southwest Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Monday, December 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.50.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Southwest Gas stock opened at $79.05 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.48. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12 month low of $64.69 and a 12 month high of $83.11.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $316.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.78% and a net margin of 11.59%.Southwest Gas’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.09 EPS. Research analysts predict that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is currently 38.63%.

Southwest Gas 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.