Comerica Bank Has $3.59 Million Holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Key Points

• Comerica Bank increased its stake in Southwest Gas Corporation by 50.5% in Q1, owning about 0.07% of the company valued at approximately $3.6 million.
• Several large investors have significantly boosted their holdings in Southwest Gas, with Farther Finance Advisors LLC increasing its stake by 1,055%.
• Wall Street analysts show a positive outlook for Southwest Gas, with upgrades and target price increases by firms such as Jefferies Financial Group and Bank of America.

Comerica Bank grew its holdings in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX - Free Report) by 50.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,947 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 16,766 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank owned 0.07% of Southwest Gas worth $3,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SWX. Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas in the 4th quarter valued at $257,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 818,023 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $57,842,000 after purchasing an additional 97,709 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 126.2% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 73,778 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,185,000 after purchasing an additional 41,160 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,961 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,058,000 after purchasing an additional 3,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 4,391 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SWX. Bank of America upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Southwest Gas to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Gas from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $82.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $79.75.

Southwest Gas Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of SWX traded down $0.64 on Friday, hitting $78.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 58,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 423,069. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $77.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.42. Southwest Gas Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $64.69 and a fifty-two week high of $80.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.55.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.17 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect 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.