Huntington Begins Coverage on Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN)

Key Points

• Huntington initiated coverage of Northwest Natural Gas with an “outperform” rating and a $58 price target, implying 19.63% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is generally positive: the stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $55.80.
• Northernwest Natural Gas shares fell 1.2% to $48.48, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $0.01, exceeding the consensus estimate of a $0.08 loss; institutional investors own 75.13% of the stock.

Equities research analysts at Huntington assumed coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an "outperform" rating and a $58.00 price target on the utilities provider's stock. Huntington's price target indicates a potential upside of 19.63% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northwest Natural Gas presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.80.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Down 1.2%

NWN stock traded down $0.58 during trading on Monday, hitting $48.48. The company had a trading volume of 8,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 271,314. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.22 and a beta of 0.44. Northwest Natural Gas has a one year low of $41.50 and a one year high of $55.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The business has a 50-day moving average of $50.13 and a 200-day moving average of $50.95.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. The company had revenue of $243.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $271.87 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 8.33%. Northwest Natural Gas's revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Natural Gas

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.86, for a total transaction of $76,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 50,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,581,602.74. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 5,344.6% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,270,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $111,369,000 after acquiring an additional 2,228,361 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,885,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $24,160,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter worth approximately $16,287,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 74.2% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 587,016 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,437,000 after purchasing an additional 250,025 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

Northwest Natural Gas Company, operating under Northwest Natural Holding Company, is an energy and utility company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Its principal business is the distribution of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers, along with related utility and energy services.

Through its regulated natural gas utility, Northwest Natural serves customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. The company also has expanded beyond its traditional gas-distribution operations through businesses involved in water and wastewater services, renewable natural gas and other energy-related activities.

The company traces its history to 1859 and has developed into one of the Pacific Northwest's established natural gas utilities.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.