Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 510.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,197 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northwest Natural Gas were worth $626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NWN. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,403,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,081,000 after buying an additional 181,635 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 1,061.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 165,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,716,000 after buying an additional 150,867 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 2,279.2% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 150,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,633,000 after acquiring an additional 144,094 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 6.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,083,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $82,749,000 after acquiring an additional 131,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 33.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 266,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,974,000 after acquiring an additional 66,630 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at Northwest Natural Gas

In related news, VP David A. Weber sold 1,700 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.57, for a total transaction of $89,369.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 149 shares in the company, valued at $7,832.93. This trade represents a 91.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,704 shares of company stock valued at $89,579. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NWN opened at $54.64 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65 and a beta of 0.50. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $38.94 and a fifty-two week high of $54.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.72.

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

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a $1.97 dividend. This represents a $7.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.86%.

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.