Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.
According to Zacks, “NorthWest Natural Gas Company is headquartered in Portland, OR, and provides natural gas service to the residential, commercial and industrial customers in western Oregon and southwestern Washington. NW Natural and its subsidiaries currently own and operate Bcf of underground gas storage capacity in Oregon and California. “
Get Northwest Natural Gas alerts:NWN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. ValuEngine upgraded Northwest Natural Gas from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 27th. TheStreet upgraded Northwest Natural Gas from a c rating to a b rating in a report on Tuesday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Northwest Natural Gas presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $61.00.
NWN opened at $63.45 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.76. Northwest Natural Gas has a 1-year low of $51.50 and a 1-year high of $69.50.
Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $264.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $296.20 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a positive return on equity of 8.14% and a negative net margin of 7.46%. The company’s revenue was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. equities research analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 31st will be paid a $0.4725 dividend. This represents a $1.89 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is currently 84.38%.
A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,848,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,861,000 after buying an additional 100,659 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 888,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,206,000 after buying an additional 4,169 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 579,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,403,000 after buying an additional 51,721 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 450,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,884,000 after buying an additional 34,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD Republic International Corp lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. OLD Republic International Corp now owns 384,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,138,000 after buying an additional 52,000 shares in the last quarter. 67.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Northwest Natural Gas
Northwest Natural Gas Company engages in gas distribution and storage businesses in the United States. It operates in two segments, Local Gas Distribution and Gas Storage. The Local Gas Distribution segment engages in the purchase, sale, and delivery of natural gas and related services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Oregon and southwest Washington.
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