Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN Shares Bought by Gamco Investors INC. ET AL

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 raised its stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN - Free Report) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 363,700 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 8,300 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned about 0.90% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $15,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,755,844 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $203,170,000 after purchasing an additional 42,115 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 715,951 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $28,323,000 after purchasing an additional 17,391 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 3.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 634,622 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,111,000 after purchasing an additional 19,496 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 265,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the first quarter worth about $16,007,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.43, for a total value of $306,216.82. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 79,717 shares in the company, valued at $3,222,958.31. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 22,574 shares of company stock valued at $918,517 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NWN stock opened at $41.07 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.28. The company has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.23 and a beta of 0.55. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 12 month low of $38.03 and a 12 month high of $44.38.

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

Northwest Natural Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Northwest Natural Gas's dividend payout ratio is currently 77.47%.

Northwest Natural Gas 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.

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