R Squared Ltd Takes $774,000 Position in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 14,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $774,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWN. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 6.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,083,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $82,749,000 after acquiring an additional 131,019 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 989,578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,261,000 after purchasing an additional 16,297 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 0.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 860,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,683,000 after buying an additional 3,512 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 724,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,879,000 after buying an additional 2,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 74.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 587,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,437,000 after acquiring an additional 250,025 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Freedom Capital raised Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $58.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.25.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

NWN stock traded up $1.58 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $50.23. 33,255 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 291,261. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12 and a beta of 0.43. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $39.29 and a fifty-two week high of $55.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $49.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.03.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.40 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $490.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.57 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 9.56%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.28 EPS. Research analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $0.4925 dividend. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.