National Fuel Gas Company $NFG Shares Sold by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lessened its holdings in National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) by 23.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,512 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 11,147 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $3,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in National Fuel Gas by 91.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,462 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,326,000 after purchasing an additional 13,101 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of National Fuel Gas by 3.7% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 32,920 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,789,000 after buying an additional 1,183 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 7.2% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 23,214 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,966,000 after buying an additional 1,568 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey grew its holdings in shares of National Fuel Gas by 1.6% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 33,764 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,860,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of National Fuel Gas by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,693,980 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $143,531,000 after acquiring an additional 4,995 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut National Fuel Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. Zacks Research cut National Fuel Gas from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Scotiabank lowered National Fuel Gas from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $102.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.00.

National Fuel Gas Stock Performance

NFG opened at $80.94 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.80. National Fuel Gas Company has a 52-week low of $59.01 and a 52-week high of $94.13. The company has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.43, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.14. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 11.15% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The firm had revenue of $456.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $534.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that National Fuel Gas Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.535 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. National Fuel Gas’s payout ratio is currently 37.68%.

About National Fuel Gas

National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields.