Bailard Inc. Takes Position in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $567,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 7.6% during the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 44.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 77.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 1.3% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 29,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,190,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 3.6% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Natural Gas

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,468 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total value of $358,090.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 36,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,771,944.30. The trade was a 16.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BTIG Research upgraded Northwest Natural Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.67.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE NWN opened at $45.81 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 0.57. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1-year low of $38.94 and a 1-year high of $49.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.12 and a 200-day moving average of $44.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.73) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.82) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $164.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $174.66 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.30% and a net margin of 7.94%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.71) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $1.97 per share. This represents a $7.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This is an increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.49%.

Northwest Natural Gas 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.