Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $57.00.

NWN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northwest Natural Gas

In other news, VP David A. Weber sold 1,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.57, for a total value of $89,369.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,832.93. This represents a 91.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,704 shares of company stock valued at $89,579. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Northwest Natural Gas

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NWN. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 106,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,554,000 after acquiring an additional 5,644 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 164,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,037,000 after acquiring an additional 24,906 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 650.9% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 64,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,775,000 after acquiring an additional 56,314 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 28.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,431,000. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Up 0.1%

Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $50.51 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $52.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 0.47. Northwest Natural Gas has a 52-week low of $39.10 and a 52-week high of $55.99.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $490.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.57 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.28 earnings per share. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a $0.4925 dividend. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.24%.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE: NWN), commonly known as NW Natural, is a publicly traded energy utility primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the company operates an extensive pipeline network spanning thousands of miles across Oregon and southwest Washington. Its core business activities include gas procurement, system operation and maintenance, safety inspections and customer service support.

Dating back to the mid-19th century, Northwest Natural traces its origins to the Portland Gas Light Company, which first illuminated Portland streets with manufactured gas in 1859.