Lido Advisors LLC Sells 8,499 Shares of National Fuel Gas Company $NFG

Lido Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) by 38.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,497 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 8,499 shares during the quarter. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $1,151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in National Fuel Gas by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,693,980 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $143,531,000 after buying an additional 4,995 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in National Fuel Gas by 3.3% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,495,867 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $118,458,000 after acquiring an additional 48,202 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of National Fuel Gas by 15.3% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,174,783 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $93,031,000 after acquiring an additional 155,711 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of National Fuel Gas during the second quarter worth approximately $91,964,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of National Fuel Gas by 93.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 951,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $75,315,000 after purchasing an additional 460,100 shares in the last quarter. 73.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of National Fuel Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a report on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of National Fuel Gas from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $102.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.00.

National Fuel Gas Price Performance

NFG opened at $81.80 on Friday. National Fuel Gas Company has a 1 year low of $59.01 and a 1 year high of $94.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $83.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.82.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.14. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 22.86% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The company had revenue of $466.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $534.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that National Fuel Gas Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.535 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.68%.

About National Fuel Gas

National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields.