Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Acquires 8,464 Shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 599.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,464 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 245.9% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 18,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,334,000 after purchasing an additional 12,854 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 10.6% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $436,000 after buying an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Southwest Gas in the 3rd quarter valued at about $217,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $6,823,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,256,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $166,450,000 after acquiring an additional 22,013 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SWX. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Southwest Gas from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold 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 $73.50.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

NYSE SWX opened at $69.57 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $75.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.54. The stock has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.55 and a fifty-two week high of $80.29.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 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 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.