National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $96.6667.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NFG. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Bank of America raised shares of National Fuel Gas from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $107.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of National Fuel Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Zacks Research lowered shares of National Fuel Gas from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th.

Institutional Trading of National Fuel Gas

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,784 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,285 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 0.6% in the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 25,766 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,183,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Horizon Investment Services LLC raised its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 2.5% in the first quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC now owns 6,618 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $524,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 19.6% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,012 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. 73.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

National Fuel Gas Stock Performance

National Fuel Gas stock opened at $88.76 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $87.99 and a 200-day moving average of $83.85. National Fuel Gas has a 1-year low of $58.82 and a 1-year high of $94.13. The firm has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.14. National Fuel Gas had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 11.15%.The company had revenue of $531.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $596.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. National Fuel Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.000-8.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 6.800-6.950 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that National Fuel Gas will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.535 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.45%.

National Fuel Gas Company Profile

National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields.