Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) Issues Q4 Earnings Guidance

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) updated its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $1.43-1.63 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49. Northwest Natural also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 2.200-2.400 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Northwest Natural from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northwest Natural from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northwest Natural presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $41.40.

Northwest Natural Price Performance

NWN traded down $1.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.92. 423,438 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 234,778. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.21. Northwest Natural has a 1 year low of $34.82 and a 1 year high of $42.92.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $211.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.99 million. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 7.36%. The business’s revenue was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.488 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.53%.

About Northwest Natural

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.