Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Trims Position in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV trimmed its position in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 21.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,637 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Northwest Natural Gas were worth $262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 238.2% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 376,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,885,000 after acquiring an additional 265,013 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,392,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 5,225.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 72,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,082,000 after buying an additional 70,799 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 80.5% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 110,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,358,000 after buying an additional 49,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 348,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,783,000 after buying an additional 48,301 shares during the period. 75.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NWN stock opened at $39.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.79 and a beta of 0.54. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 52-week low of $35.11 and a 52-week high of $44.38.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.19. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 8.48%. The company had revenue of $494.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $464.65 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NWN. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,500 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.68, for a total value of $297,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 94,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,761,306.88. The trade was a 7.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David A. Weber sold 2,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.46, for a total value of $92,690.18. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 255 shares in the company, valued at $10,827.30. This represents a 89.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,774 shares of company stock worth $1,023,945. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.