111 Capital Makes New Investment in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

111 Capital bought a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 8,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $331,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 199,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,537,000 after buying an additional 5,317 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 3.6% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 23,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after buying an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 24.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 10.1% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 105,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,496,000 after buying an additional 9,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IMS Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter valued at about $564,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NWN opened at $44.10 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43 and a beta of 0.57. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a one year low of $38.03 and a one year high of $45.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.53.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 8.60% and a net margin of 8.34%. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.750-2.950 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,795 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.13, for a total transaction of $328,403.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 71,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,030,073.86. This trade represents a 9.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,430 shares of company stock worth $1,154,608. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NWN. Zacks Research upgraded Northwest Natural Gas to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Northwest Natural Gas from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Saturday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.00.

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.