Hedge Funds Are Buying Southwest Gas Corporation (SWX)

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Stevens Capital Management, led by Matthew Tewksbury, initiated the most outsized position in Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX). Stevens Capital Management had $1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also initiated a $0.4 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SWX investors: David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments and Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX). We will take a look at Eagle Materials, Inc. (NYSE:EXP), Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS), BWX Technologies Inc (NYSE:BWXT), and Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc (NYSE:SC). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble SWX’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 29 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $510 million. That figure was $140 million in SWX’s case. Eagle Materials, Inc. (NYSE:EXP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) is the least popular one with only 28 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) is even less popular than SATS. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

Disclosure: None