Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Northwest Natural Gas has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from seven brokerages, with an average 12-month price target of $55.25.
• The company recently reported mixed quarterly results, posting $2.33 EPS versus expectations of $2.40 and revenue of $490.4 million, below the $538.6 million forecast.
• Northwest Natural also cut its dividend to a quarterly payment of $0.4925, or $1.97 annually, for a current yield of about 4.0%.

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.25.

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Freedom Capital raised Northwest Natural Gas from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Up 1.2%

Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $48.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.67 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.72. Northwest Natural Gas has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $55.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.40 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $490.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $538.57 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 9.56%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.28 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $0.4925 dividend. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Northwest Natural Gas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.24%.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Natural Gas

In other news, VP David A. Weber sold 1,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were 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 directly owned 149 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,832.93. The trade was a 91.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Northwest Natural Gas

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NWN. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 33.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 266,512 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,974,000 after acquiring an additional 66,630 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 738.4% in the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 72,100 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,239,000 after purchasing an additional 63,500 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 1,061.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 165,082 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,716,000 after purchasing an additional 150,867 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 6,616.5% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 455,579 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $21,294,000 after purchasing an additional 448,796 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 76,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,563,000 after purchasing an additional 21,194 shares during the period. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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