Bank of New York Mellon Corp Lowers Position in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 0.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 446,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,286 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 1.11% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $17,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NWN. MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Northwest Natural Gas in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 44.3% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the first quarter worth about $204,000. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the first quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 178.9% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 10,509 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $472,905.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 51,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,336,490. This represents a 16.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 42,869 shares of company stock worth $1,882,588 in the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE NWN opened at $48.02 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 52 week low of $38.03 and a 52 week high of $48.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.35.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.73) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $164.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $174.66 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 8.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.71) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a $0.4925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This is an increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is 78.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.67.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

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.