Guardian Wealth Management Inc. Has $641,000 Holdings in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN)

Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN - Free Report) by 72.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,014 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,326 shares during the quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Northwest Natural Gas were worth $641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 238.2% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 376,256 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $14,885,000 after acquiring an additional 265,013 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the first quarter worth $7,851,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the fourth quarter worth $4,392,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 61.6% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 223,223 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,536,000 after acquiring an additional 85,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 5,225.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 72,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,082,000 after acquiring an additional 70,799 shares in the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.96, for a total value of $314,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 87,291 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,662,730.36. The trade was a 7.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 22,591 shares of company stock worth $923,455. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Northwest Natural Gas from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Northwest Natural Gas from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

NWN stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.84. 210,314 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 273,912. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a twelve month low of $37.41 and a twelve month high of $44.38. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.19. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $494.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $464.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.69 EPS. Northwest Natural Gas's revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. Northwest Natural Gas's dividend payout ratio is presently 77.78%.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

Northwest Natural Holding Company, through its subsidiary, Northwest Natural Gas Company, provides regulated natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the United States. The company operates a mist gas storage facility contracted to other utilities, third-party marketers, and electric generators; offers natural gas asset management services; and operates an appliance retail center.