Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 66,630 Shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 33.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 266,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,630 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.66% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $11,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NWN. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 577.6% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 266,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,593,000 after purchasing an additional 227,336 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,403,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,081,000 after purchasing an additional 181,635 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 940,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,355,000 after purchasing an additional 161,000 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $82,749,000 after buying an additional 131,019 shares during the period. Finally, CSM Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the 2nd quarter worth $3,142,000. 75.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northwest Natural Gas

In other news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,468 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total transaction of $358,090.60. Following the sale, the director owned 36,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,771,944.30. The trade was a 16.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:NWN opened at $48.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.05. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $38.94 and a fifty-two week high of $49.63.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $1.97 dividend. This represents a $7.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 16.1%. This is a boost from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.49%.

Northwest Natural Gas 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.