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

Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a hold rating and a $54.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Huntington started coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Monday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research set a $56.00 price objective on Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings cut Northwest Natural Gas from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Northwest Natural Gas to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northwest Natural Gas presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.86.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

NWN stock opened at $49.86 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 0.40. Northwest Natural Gas has a 12-month low of $44.45 and a 12-month high of $55.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $48.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.05.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $243.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $271.87 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 9.75%. Northwest Natural Gas’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.01 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4925. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.71, for a total value of $73,065.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 47,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,340.89. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 4,500 shares of company stock valued at $221,400. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Northwest Natural Gas

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 37.4% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 201,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,406,000 after acquiring an additional 54,852 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 17.6% in the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 9,227 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares in the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the 3rd quarter worth $239,000. State of Wyoming increased its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 250.4% during the third quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,000 after acquiring an additional 3,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 3,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

Northwest Natural Gas Company, operating as NW Natural and a subsidiary of 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.

NW Natural serves communities primarily in Oregon and southwest Washington through a regulated natural gas distribution system. The company also provides related services, including natural gas storage and programs focused on renewable natural gas and other lower-carbon energy solutions.

The company traces its history to 1859 and has expanded beyond its traditional natural gas operations through investments in water and wastewater utilities.