Northwest Natural Gas (NWN) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. It also engages in gas storage, water and wastewater, non-regulated renewable natural gas, and other investment businesses. In addition, the company provides natural gas service in Oregon and southwest Washington; and water and wastewater connections. Northwest Natural Holding Company was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $41.05 to $41.50
• 50-Day Range: $39.50 to $42.44
• 52-Week Range: $38.03 to $44.38
• Volume: 241,001 shs
• Average Volume: 274,894 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.67 billion
• P/E Ratio: 16.33
• Dividend Yield: 4.74%
• Price Target: $48.00
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Northwest Natural Gas scored higher than 80% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 28th out of 99 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Northwest Natural Gas has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.33, and is based on 1 buy rating, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Northwest Natural Gas has only been the subject of 2 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 24.89%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Northwest Natural Gas are expected to grow by 24.89% in the coming year, from $2.33 to $2.91 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Northwest Natural Gas is 16.29, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 28.67.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Northwest Natural Gas is 16.29, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 15.35.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Northwest Natural Gas has a P/B Ratio of 1.14. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.51% of the float of Northwest Natural Gas has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Northwest Natural Gas has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.7.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Northwest Natural Gas has recently increased by 54.47%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Northwest Natural Gas is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 4.77%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Northwest Natural Gas has been increasing its dividend for 70 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Northwest Natural Gas is 77.47%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Northwest Natural Gas will have a dividend payout ratio of 67.35% next year. This indicates that Northwest Natural Gas will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.51% of the float of Northwest Natural Gas has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Northwest Natural Gas has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.7.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Northwest Natural Gas has recently increased by 54.47%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.47

News Sentiment

Northwest Natural Gas has a news sentiment score of 1.47. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.96 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 6 news articles for Northwest Natural Gas this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

11 people have searched for NWN on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 450% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

6 people have added Northwest Natural Gas to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 500% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Northwest Natural Gas insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $918,517.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.93% of the stock of Northwest Natural Gas is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

75.13% of the stock of Northwest Natural Gas is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

NWN Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have NWN shares performed this year?

Northwest Natural Gas' stock was trading at $39.56 at the start of the year. Since then, NWN stock has increased by 4.2% and is now trading at $41.21.

How were Northwest Natural Gas' earnings last quarter?

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August, 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.08. The utilities provider earned $236.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $252.70 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 8.34% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 8.60%.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are Northwest Natural Gas' major shareholders?

Northwest Natural Gas' top institutional shareholders include State Street Corp (5.17%), Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. (3.03%), First Trust Advisors LP (2.56%) and Geode Capital Management LLC (2.37%). Insiders that own company stock include David Hugo Anderson, David A Weber and Jane L Peverett.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Northwest Natural Gas?

Shares of NWN stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Northwest Natural Gas own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Northwest Natural Gas investors own include American Water Works (AWK), Humana (HUM), Waste Connections (WCN), DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH), The RMR Group (RMR), AU Optronics (AUOTY) and Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 8/15 Dividend: 7/31/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 8/15 Dividend: 7/31/2025
• Last Earnings: 8/05/2025
• Dividend Payable: 8/15/2025
• Today: 8/28/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/11/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: UTIL - GAS DISTR
• Sub-Industry: Gas Utilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:NWN
• CIK: 73020
• Web: www.nwnatural.com
• Phone: (503) 226-4211
• Fax: 503-273-4822
• Employees: 1,452
• Year Founded: 1859

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Northwest Natural Gas: $48.00
• High Price Target: $49.00
• Low Price Target: $47.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +15.6%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.33
• Research Coverage: 3 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $2.53
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 16.41
• Forward P/E Ratio: 17.82
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $78.87 million
• Net Margins: 8.34%
• Pretax Margin: 11.66%
• Return on Equity: 8.60%
• Return on Assets: 2.25%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.43
• Current Ratio: 0.68
• Quick Ratio: 0.52

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.15 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.45
• Cash Flow: $6.26 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 6.63
• Book Value: $36.20 per share
• Price / Book: 1.15

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 40,310,000
• Free Float: 39,935,000
• Market Cap: $1.67 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.55