Gabelli Funds LLC Sells 52,473 Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Key Points

• Gabelli Funds LLC has reduced its stake in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) by 5.1%, owning 973,315 shares worth approximately $69.88 million after selling 52,473 shares in the first quarter.
• Institutional ownership stands at 92.77%, with UMB Bank significantly increasing its holdings by 41.2% during the same period.
• Southwest Gas reported a quarterly EPS of $0.53, exceeding analysts' expectations, although revenue fell short of projections and showed a year-over-year decline of 5.2%.

Gabelli Funds LLC trimmed its position in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX - Free Report) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 973,315 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 52,473 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC owned approximately 1.35% of Southwest Gas worth $69,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SWX. Zimmer Partners LP increased its position in Southwest Gas by 884.4% in the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 910,615 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $64,390,000 after purchasing an additional 818,115 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Gas in the first quarter worth about $31,686,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its position in Southwest Gas by 328.1% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 223,746 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $15,821,000 after purchasing an additional 171,478 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the 1st quarter worth about $11,781,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 217.3% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 154,568 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $11,098,000 after buying an additional 105,852 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SWX has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Southwest Gas from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Gas from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Southwest Gas from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Southwest Gas to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Southwest Gas from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $79.75.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of SWX traded up $1.97 on Friday, hitting $79.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 458,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 376,027. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.49. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $77.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Southwest Gas Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $64.69 and a fifty-two week high of $80.54.

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

About Southwest Gas

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.