Alps Advisors Inc. Acquires New Stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 16,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $748,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NWN. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 77.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 44.3% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 95.6% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 29.4% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 21.6% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NWN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,468 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total value of $358,090.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 36,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,771,944.30. This represents a 16.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

NYSE NWN opened at $49.75 on Friday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1-year low of $38.94 and a 1-year high of $49.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $46.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.08.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a $1.97 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $7.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.8%. This is an increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is 78.49%.

About Northwest Natural Gas

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.