Horizon Investments LLC Makes New $630,000 Investment in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Horizon Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 13,482 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $630,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 6.7% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 860,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,683,000 after buying an additional 3,512 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 6,616.5% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 359,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,263,000 after buying an additional 13,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 308,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,868,000 after buying an additional 33,075 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE NWN opened at $50.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 0.47. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 12-month low of $39.10 and a 12-month high of $55.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.37.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $490.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.57 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 9.56%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.28 EPS. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.150 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.4925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is presently 70.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Friday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Northwest Natural Gas from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Freedom Capital raised Northwest Natural Gas to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.00.

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 stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,832.93. The trade was a 91.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,704 shares of company stock worth $89,579. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.