BidaskClub Downgrades Northwest Natural Gas Company (NWN) to Hold

BidaskClub cut shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

NWN has been the subject of several other research reports. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, May 17th. Sidoti reiterated a buy rating and issued a $75.00 target price (up previously from $68.00) on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Monday, June 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $64.00.

Shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NWN) traded up 1.13% on Wednesday, hitting $62.70. 166,342 shares of the stock were exchanged. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.18 and a beta of 0.42. Northwest Natural Gas has a 1-year low of $53.50 and a 1-year high of $66.17. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $61.23 and its 200-day moving average is $59.81.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.01. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 8.72%. The business had revenue of $297.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $147.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas will post $2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

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The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 31st will be issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 27th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.24%.

In other news, VP Kimberly A. Heiting sold 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total value of $166,266.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,807 shares in the company, valued at $296,015.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Shawn M. Filippi sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.27, for a total transaction of $74,724.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,819.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 6,224 shares of company stock valued at $384,376. 1.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mason Street Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 7.2% in the first quarter. Mason Street Advisors LLC now owns 6,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC now owns 54,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,279,000 after buying an additional 1,214 shares in the last quarter. Neuburgh Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 4.7% in the first quarter. Neuburgh Advisers LLC now owns 2,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 667,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,918,000 after buying an additional 74,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,552,000. Institutional investors own 63.67% of the company’s stock.

About Northwest Natural Gas

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NW Natural) is engaged in the distribution of natural gas. The Company’s segments include Local Gas Distribution, Gas Storage and other. The Company maintains operations in Oregon, Washington and California and conducts businesses through NW Natural and its subsidiaries.