Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,277,877 shares, an increase of 21.3% from the February 26th total of 1,053,173 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 533,157 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Gas

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 905.3% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 223.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Southwest Gas by 301.0% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in Southwest Gas during the third quarter worth $72,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Southwest Gas stock opened at $87.35 on Tuesday. Southwest Gas has a 12-month low of $64.69 and a 12-month 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $85.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.26.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upgraded Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $82.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $96.00 price target on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.40.

Southwest Gas Company Profile

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.