Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $88.40.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SWX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho set a $96.00 target price on Southwest Gas in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $82.00 to $99.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of Southwest Gas stock traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $87.19. The company had a trading volume of 49,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 669,013. The firm has a market cap of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.63. Southwest Gas has a one year low of $64.69 and a one year high of $90.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.08.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by ($0.04). Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 14.77%.The firm had revenue of $480.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $587.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.39 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Gas

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SWX. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in Southwest Gas by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 224,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,599,000 after purchasing an additional 52,573 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 930,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,911,000 after buying an additional 226,231 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 547.9% during the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 23,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,827,000 after buying an additional 19,720 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 6.2% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 175,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,025,000 after acquiring an additional 10,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 146.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,773,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,963 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE: SWX) is a publicly traded natural gas utility that provides regulated gas distribution services to residential, commercial, industrial and electric generation customers. The company’s core activities include the transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas through an extensive network of pipelines, service lines and metering facilities. Southwest Gas also offers related services such as system maintenance, pipeline safety inspections, emergency response and line extensions to support customer growth and ensure reliable gas delivery.

Founded in 1931 in southern Nevada, Southwest Gas has grown through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion to become one of the nation’s larger natural gas utilities by customer count.