Bailard Inc. Purchases New Stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 12,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $567,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $4,554,000 after purchasing an additional 5,644 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 17.8% in the first 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 buying an additional 24,906 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 56,314 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter valued at $531,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 24,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $952,000 after buying an additional 1,769 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,468 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 36,954 shares in the company, valued at $1,771,944.30. The trade was a 16.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE NWN opened at $45.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The company has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 0.57. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 52 week low of $38.94 and a 52 week high of $49.63. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.49.

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

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $1.97 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $7.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.2%. This is a boost from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NWN shares. BTIG Research raised Northwest Natural Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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.