Northwest Natural Gas Company (NWN) To Go Ex-Dividend on January 30th

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a dividend of 1.97 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, February 13th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 16.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This is a 300.0% increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49.

Northwest Natural Gas has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 70 years. Northwest Natural Gas has a dividend payout ratio of 65.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Northwest Natural Gas to earn $2.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.97 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.7%.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

NYSE NWN opened at $46.94 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.59. Northwest Natural Gas has a 52-week low of $38.94 and a 52-week high of $49.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.65 and a beta of 0.57.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.73) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.82) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.30% and a net margin of 7.94%.The company had revenue of $164.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $174.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.71) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Northwest Natural Gas

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.