Retirement Systems of Alabama Decreases Stake in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 1.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 73,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,173 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $5,394,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Southwest Gas by 88.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,539,000 after buying an additional 9,705 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 49.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 3,550 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,027,000 after purchasing an additional 19,922 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 192.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,755,000 after purchasing an additional 69,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in Southwest Gas by 599.0% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 9,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,000 after purchasing an additional 8,464 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

NYSE SWX opened at $67.87 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.55 and a fifty-two week high of $80.29. The business has a fifty day moving average of $75.19 and a 200-day moving average of $73.57. The stock has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SWX has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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 reissued 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 given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Gas

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,390,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.74, for a total transaction of $106,668,600.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.