8,880 Shares in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Bought by Virtu Financial LLC

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC has purchased 8,880 shares of Southwest Gas Corporation, valued at approximately $638,000, indicating growing institutional interest in the company.
• Multiple analysts have recently upgraded Southwest Gas, with Bank of America raising its target price from $69.00 to $74.00, while Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target from $74.00 to $82.00.
• Southwest Gas Corporation reported earnings of $0.53 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations with a revenue of $1.12 billion, despite a 5.2% decline year-over-year.

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 8,880 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $638,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1,055.0% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 462 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 144.0% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 510 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1,001.8% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 606 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 41.2% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 833 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 78.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 869 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SWX shares. Bank of America upgraded Southwest Gas from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Southwest Gas from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Southwest Gas from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Southwest Gas to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Gas from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Gas has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.25.

Southwest Gas Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Southwest Gas stock opened at $79.78 on Wednesday. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 1 year low of $64.69 and a 1 year high of $80.29. The firm has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of 29.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $75.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.11. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 4.06%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. The business's revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Company 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.

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