Northwest Natural Gas Company (NWN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.49 on August 14th

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of 0.4925 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, August 14th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st.

Northwest Natural Gas has raised its dividend by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 70 years. Northwest Natural Gas has a payout ratio of 65.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Northwest Natural Gas to earn $3.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.97 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.0%.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $52.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.92 and a 200-day moving average of $50.48. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.75 and a beta of 0.43. Northwest Natural Gas has a 52-week low of $39.29 and a 52-week high of $55.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.40 by ($0.07). Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The business had revenue of $490.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.18, for a total transaction of $76,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 52,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,674,615.62. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NWN. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 1,061.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 165,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,716,000 after purchasing an additional 150,867 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 76,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,563,000 after buying an additional 21,194 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 6,616.5% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 455,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,294,000 after buying an additional 448,796 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 1,660.9% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 23,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after buying an additional 21,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 58.5% in the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 35,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after buying an additional 13,016 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

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.