State of Alaska Department of Revenue Raises Stock Holdings in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 8.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,769 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned about 0.06% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $952,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IMS Capital Management purchased a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter worth $564,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter worth about $531,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in Northwest Natural Gas in the 2nd quarter worth about $246,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 50,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,000,000 after buying an additional 2,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 105,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,496,000 after buying an additional 9,612 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE NWN opened at $44.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.56 and a beta of 0.57. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1-year low of $38.03 and a 1-year high of $45.07. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.51.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $236.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $252.70 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.60% and a net margin of 8.34%. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.750-2.950 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Northwest Natural Gas to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 4,233 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.01, for a total value of $190,527.33. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 67,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,046,681.89. The trade was a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 27,430 shares of company stock valued at $1,154,608 in the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.