First Trust Advisors LP Sells 308,371 Shares of National Fuel Gas Company $NFG

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its position in shares of National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) by 35.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 559,278 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 308,371 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $47,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in National Fuel Gas in the second quarter valued at approximately $91,964,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of National Fuel Gas by 93.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 951,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,315,000 after purchasing an additional 460,100 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of National Fuel Gas in the 2nd quarter worth $27,050,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of National Fuel Gas in the 1st quarter worth $17,809,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in National Fuel Gas by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,174,783 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $93,031,000 after buying an additional 155,711 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on NFG. Zacks Research cut National Fuel Gas from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $106.00 in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, National Fuel Gas has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.00.

National Fuel Gas Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NFG stock opened at $81.46 on Tuesday. National Fuel Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $59.01 and a fifty-two week high of $94.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.36 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.44. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.87.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.14. National Fuel Gas had a return on equity of 21.76% and a net margin of 22.86%.The firm had revenue of $466.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $534.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. National Fuel Gas’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that National Fuel Gas Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.535 dividend. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. National Fuel Gas’s payout ratio is currently 37.68%.

National Fuel Gas Profile

National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields.