Brokerages Set Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Target Price at $57.00

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $55.25.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on NWN shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Freedom Capital upgraded Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Monday. They set an “underweight” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen started coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, VP David A. Weber sold 1,700 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The stock was 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 owned 149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,832.93. The trade was a 91.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,704 shares of company stock worth $89,579. 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 added to or reduced their stakes in NWN. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas during the 4th quarter worth about $26,885,000. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 6,616.5% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 455,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,294,000 after acquiring an additional 448,796 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 74.2% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 587,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,437,000 after acquiring an additional 250,025 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 3,319.6% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 211,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,887,000 after acquiring an additional 205,350 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC lifted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 224.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 286,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,386,000 after acquiring an additional 198,074 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of NWN stock opened at $48.43 on Monday. Northwest Natural Gas has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $55.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $52.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53 and a beta of 0.47.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.40 by ($0.07). Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 9.56%.The business had revenue of $490.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. On average, research analysts expect 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is 67.24%.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

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.