Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Posted by Geri Gentry on Jun 30th, 2026

Shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN – Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $55.25.

Several brokerages have commented on NWN. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, May 29th.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Northwest Natural Gas

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Down 1.7%

NYSE NWN opened at $49.94 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. Northwest Natural Gas has a 1-year low of $39.29 and a 1-year high of $55.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.36 and a 200-day moving average of $49.94. The company has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 0.43.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The business had revenue of $490.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is currently 67.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 0.7% during the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 30,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,348,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 16,967 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $793,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 0.5% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 67,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,617,000 after buying an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.