Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $729,000 Stake in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 599.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,464 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Southwest Gas by 67.2% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Gas during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Gas by 96.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Gas in the second quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Gas in the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Gas news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,390,000 shares of Southwest Gas stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.74, for a total transaction of $106,668,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,632,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $739,206,030.96. The trade was a 12.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Trading Up 2.5 %

NYSE SWX opened at $69.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.55 and a 52 week high of $80.29. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.54. The company has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. Southwest Gas’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SWX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $73.00 price target on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.50.

About Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, distributes and transports natural gas in Arizona, Nevada, and California. The company operates through Natural Gas Distribution, Utility Infrastructure Services, and Pipeline and Storage segments. It also provides trenching, installation, and replacement of underground pipes, as well as maintenance services for energy distribution systems.