Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) updated its FY13 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of $1.671.77 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus EPS estimate of $1.74.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PNY shares. Analysts at Wells Fargo initiated coverage on shares of Piedmont Natural Gas in a research note to investors on Wednesday, February 13th. They set a market perform rating on the stock. On a related note, analysts at Credit Suisse initiated coverage on shares of Piedmont Natural Gas in a research note to investors on Wednesday, February 13th. They set an outperform rating on the stock. Finally, analysts at Hilliard Lyons upgraded shares of Piedmont Natural Gas from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note to investors on Friday, January 4th. They now have a $35.00 price target on the stock.

One investment analyst has rated the stock with a buy rating, one has issued an overweight rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has given an underweight rating, and one has given a sell rating to the company’s stock. Piedmont Natural Gas presently has a consensus rating of hold and a consensus price target of $32.60.

Shares of Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) traded up 0.30% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $32.98. Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $33.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $32.23. The company has a market cap of $2.384 billion and a P/E ratio of 19.81.

Piedmont Natural Gas last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $515.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $491.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) will post $1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled for Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%.

Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (Piedmont) is an energy services company. The Company is engaged in the distribution of natural gas to over one million residential, commercial, industrial and power generation customers in portions of North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including 61,000 customers served by municipalities who are its wholesale customers.

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