Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Boosts Holdings in National Fuel Gas Company $NFG

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its stake in National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 125,998 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 8,890 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC owned approximately 0.13% of National Fuel Gas worth $10,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NFG. State Street Corp grew its position in National Fuel Gas by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,035,345 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $343,962,000 after purchasing an additional 132,855 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 103.4% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,138,153 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $197,501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087,067 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,816,217 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $145,446,000 after purchasing an additional 121,099 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,445,601 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $115,735,000 after purchasing an additional 37,056 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of National Fuel Gas in the fourth quarter valued at about $92,415,000. 73.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of National Fuel Gas in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.00.

National Fuel Gas Price Performance

Shares of NFG stock opened at $76.93 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a PE ratio of 10.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. National Fuel Gas Company has a twelve month low of $76.75 and a twelve month high of $97.06.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $858.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $856.57 million. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 27.48% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The company’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that National Fuel Gas Company will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.535 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.96%.

About National Fuel Gas

National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE: NFG) is a diversified energy company engaged primarily in the production, gathering, transmission, distribution and marketing of natural gas. The company operates through four principal segments: Exploration & Production, Pipeline & Storage, Utilities, and Energy Marketing. Its integrated asset base spans upstream development in the Appalachian Basin, regional pipeline networks, underground storage facilities, and regulated utility distribution systems.

In its Exploration & Production segment, National Fuel Gas focuses on developing natural gas reserves in the Marcellus and Utica shales, leveraging modern drilling and completion techniques.