HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 19,263 Shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX - Free Report) by 63.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,233 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 19,263 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $829,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SWX. Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 18.5% in the third quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,765,148 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $130,197,000 after purchasing an additional 275,992 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 6.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,053,094 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $74,117,000 after buying an additional 68,254 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 9.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 985,566 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $69,370,000 after purchasing an additional 84,987 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Southwest Gas by 3.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 977,810 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $72,123,000 after purchasing an additional 35,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 654,930 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $48,308,000 after purchasing an additional 6,059 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,390,000 shares of Southwest Gas stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.74, for a total transaction of $106,668,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Southwest Gas Stock Performance

Shares of Southwest Gas stock traded up $1.70 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $69.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 457,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 372,859. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $57.55 and a one year high of $80.29. The stock has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $75.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.57.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. Southwest Gas had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. Southwest Gas's revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southwest Gas's dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SWX. Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Gas in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Gas from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently 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.