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

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.25.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NWN. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Down 1.2%

Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $48.47 on Friday. Northwest Natural Gas has a 1-year low of $41.50 and a 1-year high of $55.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 0.44.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. 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 8.33% and a net margin of 9.75%.The company had revenue of $243.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $271.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.01 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a $0.4925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.67%.

Insider Activity at Northwest Natural Gas

In other news, Director David 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 sale, the director directly owned 50,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,581,602.74. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northwest Natural Gas

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter worth about $504,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 27,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,371,000 after buying an additional 5,466 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Northwest Natural Gas in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $78,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 194,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,557,000 after buying an additional 22,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $107,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

About Northwest Natural Gas

Northwest Natural Gas Company, operating under Northwest Natural Holding Company, is an energy and utility company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Its principal business is the distribution of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers, along with related utility and energy services.

Through its regulated natural gas utility, Northwest Natural serves customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. The company also has expanded beyond its traditional gas-distribution operations through businesses involved in water and wastewater services, renewable natural gas and other energy-related activities.

The company traces its history to 1859 and has developed into one of the Pacific Northwest’s established natural gas utilities.