Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Has $15.54 Million Stock Position in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Key Points

• Gamco Investors INC. has increased its stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company by 2.3%, owning approximately $15.5 million worth of shares.
• Numerous hedge funds, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, have also raised their positions in the company, leading to institutional investors holding over 75% of the stock.
• The company recently reported earnings of $0.01 EPS, exceeding analysts' expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.49, offering a yield of 4.8%.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN - Free Report) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 363,700 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,300 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned 0.90% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $15,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Abound Wealth Management bought a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the first quarter worth about $34,000. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the first quarter worth about $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 24.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,830 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the period. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the fourth quarter worth about $186,000. Institutional investors own 75.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,574 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.43, for a total transaction of $306,216.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 79,717 shares in the company, valued at $3,222,958.31. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 22,574 shares of company stock worth $918,517 in the last three months. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NWN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Northwest Natural Gas to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northwest Natural Gas currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $48.00.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NWN traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $41.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 193,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 260,164. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.68. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $38.03 and a fifty-two week high of $44.38. The business's 50 day moving average price is $40.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.30. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 0.59.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.08. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 8.60%. The company had revenue of $236.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $252.70 million. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.750-2.950 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Northwest Natural Gas's payout ratio is currently 77.47%.

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.