Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Rating Increased to Strong Sell at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) to a strong sell rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on NWN. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.25.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

NWN stock opened at $50.14 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $52.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.44. Northwest Natural Gas has a one year low of $39.10 and a one year high of $55.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a PE ratio of 17.11 and a beta of 0.47.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.40 by ($0.07). Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The firm had revenue of $490.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.57 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.28 earnings per share. Northwest Natural Gas’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a $0.4925 dividend. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, VP David A. Weber sold 1,700 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock in a transaction 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 owned 149 shares in the company, valued at $7,832.93. The trade was a 91.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,704 shares of company stock worth $89,579 in the last 90 days. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northwest Natural Gas

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 33.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 266,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,974,000 after buying an additional 66,630 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 738.4% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 72,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,239,000 after buying an additional 63,500 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 1,061.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 165,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,716,000 after buying an additional 150,867 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 448,796 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 22.4% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 267,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,036,000 after buying an additional 49,065 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Company 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.