Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Receives $54.50 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $54.50.

NWN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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, March 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Friday, January 30th.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

Shares of NWN opened at $54.05 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a PE ratio of 19.44 and a beta of 0.50. Northwest Natural Gas has a 12-month low of $39.10 and a 12-month high of $55.99. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.67.

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

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a $0.4925 dividend. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 70.86%.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Natural Gas

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, VP David A. Weber sold 1,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.57, for a total transaction of $89,369.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,832.93. This represents a 91.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,704 shares of company stock valued at $89,579. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,885,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 6,616.5% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 455,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,294,000 after acquiring an additional 448,796 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 74.2% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 587,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,437,000 after acquiring an additional 250,025 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 3,319.6% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 211,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,887,000 after acquiring an additional 205,350 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC increased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 224.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 286,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,386,000 after acquiring an additional 198,074 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

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.