State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,256,637 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,013 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned about 3.15% of Southwest Gas worth $166,450,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 67.2% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 398 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 96.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 574 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the second quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
In related news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,390,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.74, for a total transaction of $106,668,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,632,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $739,206,030.96. This represents a 12.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.
A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America restated an "underperform" rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Gas currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $73.50.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on Southwest Gas
Shares of NYSE SWX opened at $72.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $75.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.55 and a 52-week high of $80.29.
Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.12 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southwest Gas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.
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.
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