Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $54.86 According to Analysts

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $54.86.

NWN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho began coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial started coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. They set a “hold” rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley cut Northwest Natural Gas to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Huntington started coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Monday, September 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Natural Gas

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.71, for a total transaction of $73,065.00. Following the transaction, the director 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,500 shares of company stock worth $221,400. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 3,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. Axiom Investment Management LLC now owns 1,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 67,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,617,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 197.5% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 6.6% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Up 2.3%

NYSE NWN opened at $51.36 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $48.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.13. Northwest Natural Gas has a one year low of $45.33 and a one year high of $55.99. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.73 and a beta of 0.41.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $243.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $271.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.01 earnings per share. Northwest Natural Gas’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4925. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

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.