Wall Street Zen Downgrades Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) to Sell

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Citigroup upgraded Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $82.00 to $99.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $96.00 target price on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Gas presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.40.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SWX opened at $91.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Southwest Gas has a 52 week low of $66.93 and a 52 week high of $93.44. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.40.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $480.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $587.01 million. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Southwest Gas’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Gas will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 30.6% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 224,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,599,000 after purchasing an additional 52,573 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 32.1% during the third quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 930,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,911,000 after purchasing an additional 226,231 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 547.9% during the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 23,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,827,000 after purchasing an additional 19,720 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 146.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,773,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 176.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 501,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,307,000 after purchasing an additional 320,145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Company Profile

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.