M&T Bank Corp Purchases 448,796 Shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN - Free Report) by 6,616.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 455,579 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 448,796 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp owned 1.10% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $21,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 worth $82,749,000 after purchasing an additional 131,019 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in 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 worth $63,081,000 after buying an additional 181,635 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 860,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $38,683,000 after buying an additional 3,512 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 359,085 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $14,263,000 after buying an additional 13,730 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 308,655 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $13,868,000 after buying an additional 33,075 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a "hold (c)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. TD Cowen began coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Friday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.50.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Up 2.4%

NYSE:NWN opened at $53.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1-year low of $39.10 and a 1-year high of $55.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $52.57 and a 200 day moving average of $48.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23 and a beta of 0.50.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 8.79% and a return on equity of 8.24%. The business had revenue of $394.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $419.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a $0.4925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Northwest Natural Gas's payout ratio is 70.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, VP David A. Weber sold 1,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.57, for a total transaction of $89,369.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 149 shares in the company, valued at $7,832.93. This represents a 91.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,704 shares of company stock valued at $89,579 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

About Northwest Natural Gas

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.

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