Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Research Coverage Started at Huntington

Huntington assumed coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $58.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on NWN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.80.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Up 0.9%

NWN opened at $48.65 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.22 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $50.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.92. Northwest Natural Gas has a twelve month low of $41.51 and a twelve month high of $55.99.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 9.75%.The company had revenue of $243.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $271.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st were given a $0.4925 dividend. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is currently 65.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.86, for a total transaction of $76,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 50,759 shares in the company, valued at $2,581,602.74. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northwest Natural Gas

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the 2nd quarter valued at $504,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 27,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 5,466 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas in the 2nd quarter worth $78,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 194,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,557,000 after purchasing an additional 22,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the 2nd quarter worth about $107,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

Northwest Natural Gas Company, operating under Northwest Natural Holding Company, is an energy and utility company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Its principal business is the distribution of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers, along with related utility and energy services.

Through its regulated natural gas utility, Northwest Natural serves customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. The company also has expanded beyond its traditional gas-distribution operations through businesses involved in water and wastewater services, renewable natural gas and other energy-related activities.

The company traces its history to 1859 and has developed into one of the Pacific Northwest’s established natural gas utilities.