Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Director Sells 1,500 Shares of Stock

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Director David Hugo Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.86, for a total value of $76,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 50,759 shares in the company, valued at $2,581,602.74. This trade represents a 2.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

David Hugo Anderson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, July 20th, David Hugo Anderson sold 1,500 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.18, for a total value of $76,770.00.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NWN traded up $0.60 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $51.03. The company had a trading volume of 272,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 211,758. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $40.09 and a fifty-two week high of $55.99. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $50.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.01 and a beta of 0.43.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $243.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $271.87 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. The company’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. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Freedom Capital upgraded Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northwest Natural Gas currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NWN. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,083,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $82,749,000 after buying an additional 131,019 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 989,578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,261,000 after acquiring an additional 16,297 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 0.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 860,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,683,000 after acquiring an additional 3,512 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 2.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 743,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,571,000 after acquiring an additional 18,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 74.2% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 587,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,437,000 after acquiring an additional 250,025 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Northwest Natural Gas

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.