Ethic Inc. Invests $387,000 in National Fuel Gas Company $NFG

Ethic Inc. purchased a new position in shares of National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,559 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $387,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of National Fuel Gas by 4,547.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 883 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,272 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $192,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in National Fuel Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,050,000. Aspiriant LLC increased its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. increased its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 69,353 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $5,875,000 after acquiring an additional 8,993 shares during the last quarter. 73.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NFG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $107.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. 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. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of National Fuel Gas from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $102.00 to $106.00 in a research report 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, National Fuel Gas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.00.

National Fuel Gas Trading Down 1.5%

NFG opened at $79.05 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.58. National Fuel Gas Company has a 12 month low of $58.82 and a 12 month high of $94.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $86.90 and a 200 day moving average of $84.67.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $531.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $596.12 million. National Fuel Gas had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 11.15%.The firm’s revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that National Fuel Gas Company will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

National Fuel Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.535 per share. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.