Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN Shares Acquired by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 510.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,197 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northwest Natural Gas were worth $626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 5.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 106,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,554,000 after purchasing an additional 5,644 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position 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 worth $7,037,000 after purchasing an additional 24,906 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 650.9% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 64,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,775,000 after purchasing an additional 56,314 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 94.0% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 12,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 6,156 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 28.5% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 1,428 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, VP David A. Weber sold 1,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.57, for a total transaction of $89,369.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 149 shares in the company, valued at $7,832.93. This represents a 91.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,704 shares of company stock worth $89,579. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

NWN stock opened at $54.64 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $50.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.88. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 12-month low of $38.94 and a 12-month high of $54.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65 and a beta of 0.50.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $394.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a $1.97 dividend. This represents a $7.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.4%. This is an increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.33.

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.