SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Stake in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 17.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 193,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,084 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned 0.46% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $10,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 6.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,083,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $82,749,000 after buying an additional 131,019 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 989,578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,261,000 after buying an additional 16,297 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 860,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,683,000 after buying an additional 3,512 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 724,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,879,000 after acquiring an additional 2,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 74.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on NWN. Freedom Capital raised Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.25.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $50.87 on Friday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 52-week low of $39.29 and a 52-week high of $55.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.46 and a 200 day moving average of $49.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36 and a beta of 0.43.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.40 by ($0.07). Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 9.56%.The firm had revenue of $490.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.28 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

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

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.