Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Director David Hugo Anderson Sells 1,500 Shares of Stock

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Director David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.71, for a total transaction of $73,065.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 47,759 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,340.89. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

David Hugo Anderson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, September 18th, David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total value of $72,045.00.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.86, for a total value of $76,290.00.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:NWN opened at $48.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1-year low of $44.45 and a 1-year high of $55.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.74 and a 200 day moving average of $50.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of 16.26 and a beta of 0.40.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 8.33%. The company had revenue of $243.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $271.87 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. Northwest Natural Gas’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. This is an increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4925. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.67%.

Institutional Trading of Northwest Natural Gas

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NWN. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 197.5% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas during the second quarter worth $45,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas in the first quarter valued at $71,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter valued at $78,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at $83,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BTIG Research set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Huntington assumed coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Monday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.80.

About Northwest Natural Gas

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.