Brokerages Set Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Price Target at $88.40

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

SWX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $82.00 to $99.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Mizuho set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Monday, December 29th.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Gas

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SWX. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 74.7% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 209,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,073,000 after acquiring an additional 89,761 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 14.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 190,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,703,000 after purchasing an additional 24,688 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 8.2% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 27.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 73,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,492,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Southwest Gas stock opened at $87.53 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.24. The stock has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a PE ratio of 13.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Southwest Gas has a 12 month low of $64.69 and a 12 month high of $90.00.

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

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.