Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN Stock Position Reduced by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 131,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,305 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.33% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $5,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 44.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 7.6% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the 1st quarter worth approximately $204,000. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the first quarter valued at $214,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew 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 worth $211,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,468 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total transaction of $358,090.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 36,954 shares in the company, valued at $1,771,944.30. This represents a 16.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 42,763 shares of company stock worth $1,934,461 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NWN shares. 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 price target on Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. BTIG Research raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northwest Natural Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.67.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Up 1.0%

Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $49.34 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $45.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50 and a beta of 0.57. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a twelve month low of $38.03 and a twelve month high of $49.63. 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 (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.73) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.82) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.60% and a net margin of 8.34%.The firm had revenue of $164.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $174.66 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.71) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a $0.4925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. This is a boost from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is presently 78.49%.

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.