Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $50.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

NWN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Northwest Natural Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.25.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

NYSE NWN opened at $50.43 on Thursday. Northwest Natural Gas has a 1-year low of $39.75 and a 1-year high of $55.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $49.92 and a 200-day moving average of $50.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 0.43.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 9.75%.The company had revenue of $243.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $271.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is presently 65.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.18, for a total transaction of $76,770.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 52,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,674,615.62. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Northwest Natural Gas

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 76,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,563,000 after purchasing an additional 21,194 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 6,616.5% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 455,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,294,000 after buying an additional 448,796 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the fourth quarter worth approximately $630,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 17.0% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 193,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,280,000 after buying an additional 28,084 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 1,660.9% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 23,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after buying an additional 21,724 shares during the period. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.