21,304 Shares in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) Purchased by Twinbeech Capital LP

Twinbeech Capital LP bought a new position in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 21,304 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,506,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 8,588 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the fourth quarter worth $1,000,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 4.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,345 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 192.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,134 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,755,000 after acquiring an additional 69,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised 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 worth $15,340,000 after acquiring an additional 2,119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SWX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America upgraded Southwest Gas from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Wall Street Zen lowered Southwest Gas from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Southwest Gas to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $74.25.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE SWX traded up $1.08 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $71.89. 162,361 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 415,211. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.31 and a 12 month high of $80.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.48.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. The firm's revenue was down 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Southwest Gas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.74%.

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.