Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.25.

NWN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Northwest Natural Gas from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.86, for a total transaction of $76,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 50,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,581,602.74. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWN. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 77.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 104.3% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 197.5% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. 75.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:NWN opened at $51.03 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.01 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.85. Northwest Natural Gas has a 52-week low of $40.09 and a 52-week high of $55.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $243.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $271.87 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 8.33%. Northwest Natural Gas’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.01 EPS. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 65.67%.

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.