Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) Upgraded to “Hold” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Northwest Natural from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $41.40.

Northwest Natural Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of Northwest Natural stock opened at $37.37 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $36.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.15. The company has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Northwest Natural has a 1 year low of $34.82 and a 1 year high of $44.90.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $433.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $447.81 million. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 7.36%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Northwest Natural will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,421,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,572,000 after acquiring an additional 71,214 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 475,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,680,000 after acquiring an additional 27,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 465,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,127,000 after acquiring an additional 26,540 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 392,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,284,000 after acquiring an additional 4,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 362,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,823,000 after acquiring an additional 74,776 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Company Profile

Northwest Natural Holding Company, through its subsidiary, Northwest Natural Gas Company, provides regulated natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the United States. The company operates a mist gas storage facility contracted to other utilities, third-party marketers, and electric generators; offers natural gas asset management services; and operates an appliance retail center.