First Trust Advisors LP Has $41.05 Million Holdings in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,033,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 39,938 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 2.56% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $41,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Corebridge Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 20,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $893,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $45,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 77.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 3.8% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 10,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

NYSE:NWN opened at $46.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 12-month low of $38.03 and a 12-month high of $49.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.06.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.73) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.82) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.30% and a net margin of 7.94%.The company had revenue of $164.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $174.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.71) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given a $0.4925 dividend. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.49%.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Natural Gas

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 10,509 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 51,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,336,490. This trade represents a 16.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 42,763 shares of company stock worth $1,934,461 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas 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.