Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a $50.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 1.19% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on NWN. Freedom Capital raised Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Northwest Natural Gas presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.25.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

NWN opened at $49.41 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Northwest Natural Gas has a 1-year low of $39.29 and a 1-year high of $55.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $49.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.61.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 9.56%.The company had revenue of $243.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $271.87 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. Research analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Natural Gas

In other news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.18, for a total value of $76,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 52,259 shares in the company, valued at $2,674,615.62. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NWN. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the 4th quarter valued at $26,885,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 6,616.5% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 455,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,294,000 after purchasing an additional 448,796 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 74.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 587,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,437,000 after purchasing an additional 250,025 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 224.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 286,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,386,000 after buying an additional 198,074 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northwest Natural Gas Company 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.