Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Shares Sold by Cwm LLC

Cwm LLC decreased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 10.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 620 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Northwest Natural Gas were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Abound Wealth Management purchased a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 24.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $112,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. OLD Republic International Corp purchased a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the first quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $186,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Northwest Natural Gas

In related news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,591 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.99, for a total value of $311,155.09. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 102,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,192,908.09. This represents a 6.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 22,591 shares of company stock valued at $923,455. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

Shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $40.84 on Friday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 52 week low of $37.41 and a 52 week high of $44.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.20. The firm has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.19. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 8.48%. The firm had revenue of $494.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $464.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.80%. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on NWN. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th.

About Northwest Natural Gas

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.