The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys Shares of 65,189 Southwest Gas Corporation $SWX

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 65,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,781,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Southwest Gas in the second quarter valued at approximately $991,549,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Southwest Gas in the second quarter worth $74,324,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas in the fourth quarter valued at $66,930,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised 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 valued at $60,797,000 after buying an additional 361,556 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 281.2% during the 1st 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Mizuho set a $103.00 target price on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Gas from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Gas from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.67.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Southwest Gas stock opened at $88.47 on Tuesday. Southwest Gas Corporation has a one year low of $76.59 and a one year high of $94.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $90.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.57.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.45. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 6.79% and a net margin of 31.85%.The company had revenue of $358.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.18) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Gas Corporation will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is presently 33.68%.

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.