Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN Shares Purchased by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 37.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 201,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,852 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned about 0.48% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $9,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas during the 2nd quarter valued at about $24,160,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Northwest Natural Gas in the 2nd quarter worth about $16,287,000. Amundi grew its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 1,283.8% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 162,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,973,000 after acquiring an additional 150,764 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 54.1% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 201,660 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,732,000 after acquiring an additional 70,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penn Capital Management Company LLC increased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 224.5% during the second quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 43,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,129,000 after acquiring an additional 30,016 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BTIG Research set a $56.00 target price on Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Truist Financial began coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. They set a “hold” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho began coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Huntington started coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Monday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Northwest Natural Gas currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.86.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NWN opened at $50.33 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 12 month low of $45.33 and a 12 month high of $55.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.11. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 0.41.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $243.55 million for 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.01 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4925. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.71, for a total value of $73,065.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 47,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,340.89. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 4,500 shares of company stock valued at $221,400 over the last 90 days. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Northwest Natural Gas Profile

Northwest Natural Gas Company, operating as NW Natural and a subsidiary of 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.

NW Natural serves communities primarily in Oregon and southwest Washington through a regulated natural gas distribution system. The company also provides related services, including natural gas storage and programs focused on renewable natural gas and other lower-carbon energy solutions.

The company traces its history to 1859 and has expanded beyond its traditional natural gas operations through investments in water and wastewater utilities.