National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG – Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on NFG. Raymond James cut National Fuel Gas from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Scotiabank cut National Fuel Gas from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and cut their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th.

National Fuel Gas Stock Down 1.6 %

NFG opened at $54.89 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $58.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. National Fuel Gas has a 12 month low of $53.94 and a 12 month high of $75.97.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $658.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $600.10 million. National Fuel Gas had a return on equity of 27.11% and a net margin of 26.25%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.48 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that National Fuel Gas will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.05%.

Institutional Trading of National Fuel Gas

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of National Fuel Gas by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 318,612 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $20,168,000 after purchasing an additional 6,175 shares in the last quarter. Natixis purchased a new position in National Fuel Gas in the 4th quarter worth approximately $899,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. purchased a new position in National Fuel Gas in the 4th quarter worth approximately $165,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in National Fuel Gas in the 4th quarter worth approximately $389,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 135,476 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $8,576,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. 72.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

National Fuel Gas Company Profile

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National Fuel Gas Co is a holding company, which engages in the production, gathering, transportation, storage, and distribution of natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment seeks to discover and produce raw materials.