Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Purchases New Position in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 13,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $629,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 7.6% during the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 44.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 77.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 29,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,190,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 29.4% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NWN stock opened at $46.14 on Friday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1-year low of $38.03 and a 1-year high of $49.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $47.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.38 and a beta of 0.57.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.73) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.82) by $0.09. The company had revenue of $164.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $174.66 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.30% and a net margin of 7.94%.The firm’s revenue was up 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.71) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total transaction of $358,090.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 36,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,771,944.30. This represents a 16.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,478 shares of company stock worth $1,178,968. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Northwest Natural Gas

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE: NWN), commonly known as NW Natural, is a publicly traded energy utility primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the company operates an extensive pipeline network spanning thousands of miles across Oregon and southwest Washington. Its core business activities include gas procurement, system operation and maintenance, safety inspections and customer service support.

Dating back to the mid-19th century, Northwest Natural traces its origins to the Portland Gas Light Company, which first illuminated Portland streets with manufactured gas in 1859.