Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Receives $55.25 Average Target Price from Analysts

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $55.25.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on NWN shares. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen began coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northwest Natural Gas

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWN. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 1,061.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 165,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,716,000 after purchasing an additional 150,867 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 76,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,563,000 after purchasing an additional 21,194 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 6,616.5% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 455,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,294,000 after buying an additional 448,796 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 267,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,036,000 after buying an additional 49,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 58.5% in the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 35,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,648,000 after buying an additional 13,016 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

NYSE NWN traded up $1.57 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $50.23. 29,445 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 291,214. The business’s 50 day moving average is $49.98 and its 200-day moving average is $50.03. Northwest Natural Gas has a 1 year low of $39.29 and a 1 year high of $55.99. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.15 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $490.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.57 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.24%.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

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.