David Hugo Anderson Sells 1,500 Shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Stock

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Director David Hugo Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.86, for a total transaction of $76,290.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 50,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,581,602.74. This represents a 2.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

David Hugo Anderson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, July 20th, David Hugo Anderson sold 1,500 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.18, for a total transaction of $76,770.00.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $50.66 on Thursday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $40.54 and a fifty-two week high of $55.99. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.89 and a beta of 0.43.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 8.33%. The firm had revenue of $243.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $271.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is presently 65.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NWN. Freedom Capital raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Friday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northwest Natural Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northwest Natural Gas

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWN. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 5.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 106,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,554,000 after acquiring an additional 5,644 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 17.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 650.9% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 28.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the 2nd quarter worth $1,431,000. 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.