Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Huntington

Huntington started coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Huntington’s price target indicates a potential upside of 19.63% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.80.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

NWN traded down $0.58 during trading on Monday, hitting $48.48. 8,566 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 271,314. Northwest Natural Gas has a one year low of $41.50 and a one year high of $55.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $50.13 and its 200 day moving average is $50.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.22 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 8.33%. The company had revenue of $243.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $271.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.01 EPS. Northwest Natural Gas’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Natural Gas

In related news, Director David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.86, for a total value of $76,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 50,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,581,602.74. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter worth about $504,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 24.3% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 27,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,371,000 after acquiring an additional 5,466 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Northwest Natural Gas during the 2nd quarter valued at $78,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 194,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,557,000 after purchasing an additional 22,055 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the 2nd quarter worth about $107,000. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

Northwest Natural Gas Company, operating under Northwest Natural Holding Company, is an energy and utility company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Its principal business is the distribution of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers, along with related utility and energy services.

Through its regulated natural gas utility, Northwest Natural serves customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. The company also has expanded beyond its traditional gas-distribution operations through businesses involved in water and wastewater services, renewable natural gas and other energy-related activities.

The company traces its history to 1859 and has developed into one of the Pacific Northwest’s established natural gas utilities.