Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN Position Boosted by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 267,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 49,065 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northwest Natural Gas were worth $12,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NWN. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 77.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 95.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 33.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 29.4% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NWN opened at $51.89 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $48.70 and a 200-day moving average of $46.56. The company has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.72. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1 year low of $38.94 and a 1 year high of $53.66.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $394.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $419.36 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 8.79% and a return on equity of 8.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.41 EPS. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a $1.97 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This is an increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $7.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.2%. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NWN. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northwest Natural Gas presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.33.

Northwest Natural Gas 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.