David Weber Sells 1,700 Shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Stock

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) VP David Weber sold 1,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.57, for a total value of $89,369.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,832.93. The trade was a 91.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Up 0.6%

NWN opened at $52.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.99 and a beta of 0.55. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a one year low of $38.94 and a one year high of $53.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $49.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.33.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 8.79%.The business had revenue of $394.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $419.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a $1.97 dividend. This represents a $7.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.9%. This is a boost from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is currently 70.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NWN. Weiss Ratings upgraded Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Northwest Natural Gas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northwest Natural Gas

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NWN. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 40.5% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 8,659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 2,498 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas in the 4th quarter valued at about $342,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,017,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the 4th quarter valued at about $607,000. Finally, VARCOV Co. purchased a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the 4th quarter worth about $399,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

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.