Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) VP David Weber Sells 1,700 Shares

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) VP David Weber sold 1,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.57, for a total value of $89,369.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,832.93. The trade was a 91.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

NYSE NWN opened at $52.47 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $49.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a twelve month low of $38.94 and a twelve month high of $53.66. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.88 and a beta of 0.55.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $394.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $419.36 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 8.79%.The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were given a dividend of $1.97 per share. This represents a $7.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 15.0%. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.86%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the fourth quarter worth $26,885,000. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 6,616.5% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 455,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,294,000 after acquiring an additional 448,796 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 74.2% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 587,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,437,000 after acquiring an additional 250,025 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 577.6% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 266,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,593,000 after purchasing an additional 227,336 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 3,319.6% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 211,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,887,000 after purchasing an additional 205,350 shares during the period. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NWN shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.33.

About Northwest Natural Gas

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.