Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on SWX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho set a $103.00 price target on Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $100.00 price objective on Southwest Gas in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $98.29.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE:SWX opened at $92.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.57. Southwest Gas has a twelve month low of $75.75 and a twelve month high of $94.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.52.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45. The firm had revenue of $358.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.20 million. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 31.85% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.18) earnings per share. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Gas will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Southwest Gas by 74.7% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 209,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,073,000 after buying an additional 89,761 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 24,688 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the second quarter valued at about $213,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 70.3% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 36,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,726,000 after purchasing an additional 15,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 393,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,241,000 after purchasing an additional 10,122 shares during the last quarter. 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.