Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 1,701 Shares of National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) by 13.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,361 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,701 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $1,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in National Fuel Gas in the first quarter valued at about $203,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 5.7% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 13,184 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,044,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of National Fuel Gas by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,908 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 609 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust acquired a new position in shares of National Fuel Gas during the 1st quarter worth about $259,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of National Fuel Gas by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,104,852 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $87,493,000 after buying an additional 22,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

National Fuel Gas Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:NFG opened at $87.89 on Tuesday. National Fuel Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $58.30 and a fifty-two week high of $89.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.94 billion, a PE ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.68.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.14. National Fuel Gas had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 11.15%. The business had revenue of $531.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $596.12 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. National Fuel Gas’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that National Fuel Gas Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.535 per share. This is a boost from National Fuel Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on National Fuel Gas from $88.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America upgraded National Fuel Gas from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered National Fuel Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.33.

About National Fuel Gas

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.