Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) Plans $0.62 Quarterly Dividend

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 17th,Zacks Dividends reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.62 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th.

Southwest Gas has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. Southwest Gas has a payout ratio of 68.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Southwest Gas to earn $3.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.6%.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

NYSE:SWX opened at $76.64 on Thursday. Southwest Gas has a one year low of $57.55 and a one year high of $79.03. The company has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $73.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Southwest Gas will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SWX has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th.

Insider Activity at Southwest Gas

In related news, CFO Robert J. Stefani sold 767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.14, for a total value of $56,098.38. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 43,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,055.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently 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.