Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) Shares Purchased by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,053,094 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,254 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $74,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 154.8% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 96.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 461.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Southwest Gas during the first quarter worth approximately $115,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SWX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Gas from $77.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Gas from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

NYSE:SWX opened at $71.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.37. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.17 and a 1-year high of $78.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $72.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.18% and a net margin of 3.44%. Southwest Gas’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Gas news, CFO Robert J. Stefani sold 767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.14, for a total transaction of $56,098.38. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 43,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,055.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.