Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 63.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 19,263 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $829,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Southwest Gas by 67.2% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake 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 during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Gas in the second quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Gas in the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. 92.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,390,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.74, for a total transaction of $106,668,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,632,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $739,206,030.96. This represents a 12.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SWX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.50.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

SWX stock opened at $67.87 on Thursday. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.55 and a twelve month high of $80.29. 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 $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.57.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Southwest Gas 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.