National Fuel Gas Company $NFG Shares Sold by Capital Fund Management S.A.

Capital Fund Management S.A. cut its holdings in shares of National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) by 19.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,455 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 6,333 shares during the period. Capital Fund Management S.A.’s holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $2,241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in National Fuel Gas by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,693,980 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $143,531,000 after purchasing an additional 4,995 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in shares of National Fuel Gas by 3.3% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,495,867 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $118,458,000 after buying an additional 48,202 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in National Fuel Gas by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,174,783 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $93,031,000 after acquiring an additional 155,711 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in National Fuel Gas by 93.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 951,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,315,000 after acquiring an additional 460,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in National Fuel Gas by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 906,680 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $76,805,000 after acquiring an additional 2,457 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on NFG shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a research note on Monday. 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. Scotiabank cut shares of National Fuel Gas from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.00.

National Fuel Gas Price Performance

National Fuel Gas stock opened at $82.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.60. National Fuel Gas Company has a one year low of $59.01 and a one year high of $94.13. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.44.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.14. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 22.86% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The business had revenue of $466.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $534.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that National Fuel Gas Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.535 per share. 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 presently 37.68%.

National Fuel Gas Profile

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.