Southwest Gas Holdings Inc (NYSE:SWX) – Research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group lowered their FY2019 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Southwest Gas in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group analyst C. Sighinolfi now expects that the utilities provider will earn $3.53 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $4.01. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for Southwest Gas’ Q1 2020 earnings at $1.61 EPS.
Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $725.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.10 million. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 6.26%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year.
SWX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Co set a $93.00 target price on Southwest Gas and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Zacks Investment Research lowered Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Southwest Gas has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.60.
NYSE SWX opened at $75.02 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.18. Southwest Gas has a twelve month low of $72.68 and a twelve month high of $92.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $76.62 and its 200 day moving average is $86.36.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is 59.24%.
In other Southwest Gas news, Director Robert L. Boughner purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $76.49 per share, for a total transaction of $382,450.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 38,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,939,434.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 5,450 shares of company stock valued at $416,561. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.
Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Southwest Gas in the second quarter valued at $54,000. Krane Funds Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas in the second quarter valued at about $60,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 6,708.3% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 805 shares during the period. Yorktown Management & Research Co Inc bought a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the third quarter worth about $200,000. Finally, Rikoon Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas in the third quarter worth approximately $200,000. Institutional investors own 82.53% of the company’s stock.
Southwest Gas Company Profile
Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, purchases, distributes, and transports natural gas in Arizona, Nevada, and California. The company operates through two segments, Natural Gas Operations and Utility Infrastructure Services. As of December 31, 2018, it had 2,047,000 residential, commercial, industrial, and other natural gas customers.
