Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $55.25.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Friday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northwest Natural Gas

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the first quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 54.1% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 201,660 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,732,000 after buying an additional 70,773 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 140.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 11,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 6,858 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 16.3% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 41,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,219,000 after buying an additional 5,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 34.7% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 41,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,231,000 after buying an additional 10,798 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Down 1.7%

Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $49.94 on Tuesday. Northwest Natural Gas has a 52 week low of $39.29 and a 52 week high of $55.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.94.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.40 by ($0.07). Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 9.56%.The company had revenue of $490.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is currently 67.24%.

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.