Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Upgraded at BTIG Research

BTIG Research upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

NWN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.67.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $47.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.89. The company has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88 and a beta of 0.57. Northwest Natural Gas has a fifty-two week low of $38.03 and a fifty-two week high of $47.79.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $236.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $252.70 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.60% and a net margin of 8.34%. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.750-2.950 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This is an increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.47%.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Natural Gas

In related news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.39, for a total value of $347,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 44,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,060,736.58. This represents a 14.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 42,869 shares of company stock valued at $1,882,588. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NWN. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 77.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 44.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 95.6% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 24.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Northwest Natural Gas

Northwest Natural Holding Company, through its subsidiary, Northwest Natural Gas Company, provides regulated natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the United States. The company operates a mist gas storage facility contracted to other utilities, third-party marketers, and electric generators; offers natural gas asset management services; and operates an appliance retail center.