New York State Common Retirement Fund Cuts Stake in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX - Free Report) by 15.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 235,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 43,799 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.33% of Southwest Gas worth $16,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SWX. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 1,055.0% during 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 during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in 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 valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 41.2% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 833 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 78.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 869 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 94,500.0% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 946 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SWX has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of 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 raised shares of Southwest Gas from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Bank of America raised shares of Southwest Gas from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Southwest Gas to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Gas from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.25.

Southwest Gas Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:SWX traded up $0.03 on Thursday, reaching $77.03. The stock had a trading volume of 558,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 383,912. The company has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm's fifty day moving average is $72.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.13. Southwest Gas Corporation has a 12-month low of $64.31 and a 12-month high of $80.29.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 6.76%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Southwest Gas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.74%.

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.