Alps Advisors Inc. Buys Shares of 16,648 Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 16,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $748,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NWN. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its position 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 worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 77.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 29,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,190,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northwest Natural Gas

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total value of $358,090.60. Following the sale, the director owned 36,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,771,944.30. This trade 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. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NWN opened at $49.75 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a PE ratio of 19.82 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $46.98 and its 200-day moving average is $45.08. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 12 month low of $38.94 and a 12 month high of $49.94.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.97 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $7.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.8%. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NWN. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Northwest Natural Gas currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Northwest Natural Gas Profile

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.