Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) Shares Sold by Great West Life Assurance Co. Can

Great West Life Assurance Co. Can cut its stake in Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX – Get Rating) by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 14,004 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $4,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in Southwest Gas in the second quarter worth $35,000. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Southwest Gas by 95.9% in the second quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 143.0% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the period. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the second quarter valued at $108,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 12.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. 87.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Gas Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of SWX stock opened at $66.15 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.27. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.51 and a fifty-two week high of $95.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 9th. The utilities provider reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.33). Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.18% and a return on equity of 6.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 14th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SWX. TheStreet lowered Southwest Gas from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Southwest Gas from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. StockNews.com raised Southwest Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America lowered Southwest Gas from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $87.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.33.

About Southwest Gas

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Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc engages in the energy business. It operates through the following business segments: Natural Gas Operations and Utility Infrastructure Services. The Natural Gas Operations segment focuses on purchasing, distribution, and transportation of natural gas in Arizona, California, and Nevada.