200,354 Shares in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 200,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,767,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.28% of Southwest Gas at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $991,549,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Southwest Gas in the 2nd quarter worth $74,324,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southwest Gas during the fourth quarter worth $66,930,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its position in Southwest Gas by 106.9% during the first quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 699,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,797,000 after acquiring an additional 361,556 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 281.2% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 459,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,887,000 after buying an additional 338,600 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho set a $103.00 target price on Southwest Gas in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Southwest Gas from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group set a $100.00 target price on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.67.

Southwest Gas Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE SWX opened at $88.94 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $90.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.33. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12 month low of $76.59 and a 12 month high of $94.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.57.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 31.85% and a return on equity of 6.79%. The business had revenue of $358.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.20 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.18) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is presently 33.68%.

About Southwest Gas

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.