Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Raises Stock Position in National Fuel Gas Company $NFG

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) by 4,547.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 883 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 864 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $75,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 15.9% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,272 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $192,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in National Fuel Gas in the second quarter valued at about $27,050,000. Aspiriant LLC increased its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 69,353 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,875,000 after purchasing an additional 8,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 20,361 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,725,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. 73.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NFG. Zacks Research cut shares of National Fuel Gas from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Bank of America raised shares of National Fuel Gas from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of National Fuel Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of National Fuel Gas from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, National Fuel Gas currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.00.

National Fuel Gas Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE NFG opened at $81.73 on Friday. National Fuel Gas Company has a 1 year low of $58.82 and a 1 year high of $94.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $87.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.50. The firm has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.46.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.14. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 11.15% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The firm had revenue of $531.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $596.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. National Fuel Gas’s revenue was up 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. National Fuel Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.000-8.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-6.950 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that National Fuel Gas Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.535 dividend. This represents a $2.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.45%.

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.