Insider Selling: Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Director Sells $76,770.00 in Stock

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Director David Hugo Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.18, for a total transaction of $76,770.00. Following the sale, the director owned 52,259 shares in the company, valued at $2,674,615.62. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NWN opened at $49.95 on Friday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a one year low of $39.29 and a one year high of $55.99. The company has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.53.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last issued its 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). The business had revenue of $490.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.57 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.28 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the 4th quarter valued at $26,885,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 6,616.5% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 455,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,294,000 after purchasing an additional 448,796 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 74.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 587,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,437,000 after purchasing an additional 250,025 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 3,319.6% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 211,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,887,000 after purchasing an additional 205,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 224.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 286,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,386,000 after purchasing an additional 198,074 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on NWN shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, May 29th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $58.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.25.

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.