Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group set a $100.00 price target on Southwest Gas in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Southwest Gas from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.29.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 0.1%

SWX traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $91.22. The company had a trading volume of 297,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 623,500. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.32. Southwest Gas has a 52-week low of $75.75 and a 52-week high of $94.43. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.58.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.03. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.95% and a net margin of 19.95%.The business had revenue of $585.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $695.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southwest Gas will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Gas

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southwest Gas in the fourth quarter worth about $66,930,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 106.9% in the first quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 699,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,797,000 after buying an additional 361,556 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 281.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 459,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,887,000 after buying an additional 338,600 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,648,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,913,000 after buying an additional 228,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the third quarter valued at approximately $16,200,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

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.