National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) Shares Purchased by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 58,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,163 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $2,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in National Fuel Gas by 2.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,190,115 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $684,699,000 after purchasing an additional 311,599 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in National Fuel Gas by 1.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,679,965 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $501,181,000 after purchasing an additional 139,734 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in National Fuel Gas by 4.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,980,876 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $413,781,000 after purchasing an additional 321,988 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in National Fuel Gas by 19.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,868,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $200,830,000 after purchasing an additional 641,010 shares during the period. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in National Fuel Gas by 0.4% in the third quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 2,456,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $127,491,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank raised their price objective on National Fuel Gas from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised National Fuel Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th.

National Fuel Gas Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE NFG opened at $53.20 on Monday. National Fuel Gas has a 1 year low of $45.32 and a 1 year high of $57.10. The firm has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.76.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $525.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $664.57 million. National Fuel Gas had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 21.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that National Fuel Gas will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.495 per share. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.51%.

National Fuel Gas Company Profile

National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields.