Fifth Third Bancorp Has $1.23 Million Stock Position in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 1,660.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 23,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,724 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Northwest Natural Gas were worth $1,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of NWN. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 30,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,348,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 16,967 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $793,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,377,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on NWN. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.25.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NWN stock opened at $51.56 on Friday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 52 week low of $39.29 and a 52 week high of $55.99. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $490.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.57 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 9.56%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a $0.4925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.24%.

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.