Carl C. Icahn Sells 1,390,000 Shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) Stock

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 1,390,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $739,206,030.96. The trade was a 12.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Southwest Gas Trading Down 0.8 %

Southwest Gas stock traded down $0.66 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $78.45. The company had a trading volume of 27,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 374,516. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.55 and a 1-year high of $79.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.64. The stock has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.38.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Gas

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,027,000 after buying an additional 19,922 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Southwest Gas by 192.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,755,000 after purchasing an additional 69,212 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in Southwest Gas by 599.0% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 9,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 8,464 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in Southwest Gas by 245.9% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 18,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,334,000 after acquiring an additional 12,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Gas by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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 note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Southwest Gas from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th.

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.