Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $2 Million Position in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 27.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 15,800 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.10% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $1,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 0.7% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 30,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,348,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 77.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 104.3% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, VP David A. Weber sold 1,700 shares of Northwest Natural Gas 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,832.93. The trade was a 91.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,704 shares of company stock valued at $89,579 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on NWN. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.33.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

Shares of NWN opened at $53.65 on Tuesday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 52-week low of $38.94 and a 52-week high of $53.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.72. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $50.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.58. The firm has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.30 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a $1.97 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $7.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.7%. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 70.86%.

Northwest Natural Gas Profile

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.