Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) Shares Purchased by Zimmer Partners LP

Zimmer Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX - Free Report) by 884.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 910,615 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 818,115 shares during the quarter. Southwest Gas makes up approximately 1.1% of Zimmer Partners LP's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Zimmer Partners LP owned approximately 1.27% of Southwest Gas worth $64,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Southwest Gas by 192.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,134 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,755,000 after buying an additional 69,212 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Southwest Gas by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 590 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Gas by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 127,005 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,981,000 after buying an additional 1,091 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Southwest Gas by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 937 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Southwest Gas by 54.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,832 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 993 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Southwest Gas from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Southwest Gas to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America raised Southwest Gas from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $69.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Southwest Gas from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $74.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Gas

In related news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 2,100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total transaction of $156,660,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,532,604 shares in the company, valued at $561,932,258.40. This represents a 21.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SWX traded up $1.74 on Friday, hitting $70.84. The company had a trading volume of 324,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 361,136. The business has a 50 day moving average of $71.94 and a 200 day moving average of $73.45. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.31 and a 52-week high of $80.29. The company has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a PE ratio of 28.57, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. 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 3.50%. Southwest Gas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.