International Assets Investment Management LLC Purchases 626,272 Shares of National Fuel Gas Company $NFG

International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) by 14,073.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 630,722 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 626,272 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $47,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NFG. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of National Fuel Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at $710,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in National Fuel Gas in the second quarter valued at $7,983,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in National Fuel Gas in the second quarter valued at $2,629,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in National Fuel Gas in the second quarter valued at $58,343,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of National Fuel Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,614,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NFG. Weiss Ratings upgraded National Fuel Gas from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of National Fuel Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.50.

National Fuel Gas Price Performance

Shares of NFG opened at $79.52 on Friday. National Fuel Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $75.03 and a fifty-two week high of $97.06. The company has a market capitalization of $7.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 3.07 and a current ratio of 3.20.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $537.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.33 million. National Fuel Gas had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 26.97%. The business’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that National Fuel Gas Company will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.5550 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.83%.

National Fuel Gas Company Profile

National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) is a diversified energy company engaged in the exploration, production, gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of natural gas. Its operations span the natural gas value chain, with an emphasis on resources and infrastructure in the Appalachian Basin.

Through its exploration and production business, National Fuel develops natural gas reserves primarily in the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania. Its pipeline and storage operations transport and store natural gas for utilities, marketers and other customers, while its gathering systems connect production wells to larger transmission networks.

National Fuel also operates a regulated natural gas utility that distributes gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in portions of western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania.