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

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Director David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $72,045.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 49,259 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,909.77. This trade represents a 2.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

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

• 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 transaction of $76,290.00.
• On Monday, July 20th, David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.18, for a total transaction of $76,770.00.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE:NWN traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $48.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 263,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 238,644. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.83. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1 year low of $42.38 and a 1 year high of $55.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $243.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $271.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were paid a $0.4925 dividend. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is 65.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northwest Natural Gas

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the second quarter worth about $504,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 24.3% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 27,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 5,466 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the 2nd quarter valued at about $78,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 194,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,557,000 after purchasing an additional 22,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $107,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NWN shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Huntington initiated coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Monday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Northwest Natural Gas from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northwest Natural Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.80.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

Northwest Natural Gas Company, operating under 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, along with related utility and energy services.

Through its regulated natural gas utility, Northwest Natural serves customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. The company also has expanded beyond its traditional gas-distribution operations through businesses involved in water and wastewater services, renewable natural gas and other energy-related activities.

The company traces its history to 1859 and has developed into one of the Pacific Northwest’s established natural gas utilities.