Summit Global Investments Decreases Stock Holdings in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

Summit Global Investments lessened its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX - Free Report) by 45.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,655 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 7,235 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments' holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SWX. Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 8,588 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Gas during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,000,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,680 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,452,000 after buying an additional 1,345 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 192.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,134 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,755,000 after buying an additional 69,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 216,942 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $15,340,000 after buying an additional 2,119 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Southwest Gas from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Southwest Gas to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southwest Gas from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.00.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

NYSE:SWX traded down $0.53 on Thursday, hitting $71.44. The stock had a trading volume of 292,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 363,536. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.31 and a 52-week high of $80.29. The stock has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $71.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.20.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.04. The company 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%. Southwest Gas's quarterly revenue was down 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Southwest Gas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Gas 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,532,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at $561,932,258.40. This represents a 21.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.