Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Releases FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) issued an update on its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 2.950-3.150 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 3.050. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on NWN. TD Cowen initiated 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. Freedom Capital raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Northwest Natural Gas has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

NWN opened at $52.74 on Wednesday. Northwest Natural Gas has a 1-year low of $39.10 and a 1-year high of $55.99. The stock has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $394.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $419.36 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 8.79%.Northwest Natural Gas’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is 70.86%.

Insider Activity at Northwest Natural Gas

In related news, VP David A. Weber sold 1,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.57, for a total value of $89,369.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,832.93. This represents a 91.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,704 shares of company stock valued at $89,579. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 40.5% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 8,659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 2,498 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the fourth quarter worth $342,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the fourth quarter valued at $1,017,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the fourth quarter valued at $607,000. Finally, VARCOV Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the fourth quarter valued at $399,000. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northwest Natural Gas Company 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.