National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.18 EPS

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The oil and gas producer reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.18, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $467.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $472.38 million. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 26.97% and a return on equity of 19.04%. National Fuel Gas’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS.

National Fuel Gas Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:NFG opened at $76.62 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.32. The company has a quick ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 3.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.36. National Fuel Gas has a 12 month low of $74.92 and a 12 month high of $97.06.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.5550 per share. This represents a $2.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 30th. National Fuel Gas’s payout ratio is presently 30.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on NFG. Weiss Ratings upgraded National Fuel Gas from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a report on Monday, August 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.50.

National Fuel Gas Company Profile

National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) is a diversified energy company engaged in the exploration, production, gathering, transportation, storage and distribution of natural gas. Its operations span the natural gas value chain, with an emphasis on resources and infrastructure in the Appalachian Basin.

Through its exploration and production business, National Fuel develops natural gas reserves primarily in the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania. Its pipeline and storage operations transport and store natural gas for utilities, marketers and other customers, while its gathering systems connect production wells to larger transmission networks.

National Fuel also operates a regulated natural gas utility that distributes gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in portions of western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania.