Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Takes Position in Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

Key Points

• Sierra Summit Advisors LLC opened a new position in Southwest Gas, buying 11,345 shares valued at about $986,000 in the first quarter.
• Wall Street sentiment remains constructive: analysts have a Buy consensus on SWX, with a consensus price target of $97.29 and several firms recently raising targets or ratings.
• Southwest Gas reported better-than-expected EPS of $1.91 for the latest quarter, and it also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.645 per share, implying a 2.9% annual yield.

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 11,345 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $986,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its position in Southwest Gas by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 2,048,053 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $163,885,000 after buying an additional 94,535 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,648,496 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $131,913,000 after acquiring an additional 228,496 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,602,100 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $128,219,000 after acquiring an additional 9,515 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,060,751 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $84,883,000 after acquiring an additional 5,882 shares during the period. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,014,287 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $81,163,000 after acquiring an additional 4,145 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SWX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southwest Gas from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group set a $100.00 price objective on Southwest Gas in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Southwest Gas in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on Southwest Gas from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Gas has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.29.

Southwest Gas Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE SWX opened at $89.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.98, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.58. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $89.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 52 week low of $72.43 and a 52 week high of $94.43.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.03. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 19.95% and a return on equity of 6.95%. The business had revenue of $585.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $695.52 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. The business's revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Southwest Gas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Southwest Gas's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.39%.

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.

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