Citigroup Inc. Acquires 14,665 Shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 33.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,922 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,665 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $2,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NWN. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 106,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,554,000 after acquiring an additional 5,644 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 164,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,037,000 after acquiring an additional 24,906 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 650.9% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 64,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,775,000 after acquiring an additional 56,314 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 9.3% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 23,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 12.0% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 10,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares during the period. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NWN. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.33.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $52.04 on Friday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1-year low of $38.94 and a 1-year high of $53.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 18.72 and a beta of 0.55.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $394.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $419.36 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 8.79%.Northwest Natural Gas’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a $1.97 dividend. This represents a $7.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.1%. This is an increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 70.86%.

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.