Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Stock Holdings in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 49,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,118 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $3,515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in Southwest Gas by 206.2% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Southwest Gas by 94,500.0% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 946 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 25.4% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 373 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SWX. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Southwest Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Southwest Gas in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Gas from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Gas presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.00.

Southwest Gas Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of SWX stock opened at $76.34 on Thursday. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.31 and a twelve month high of $80.29. The stock has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $74.41 and a 200 day moving average of $73.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is 90.18%.

Southwest Gas Profile

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.