JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $11.97 Million Holdings in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN — Free Report) by 23.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 301,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 92,297 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.75% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $11,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 44.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the 1st quarter valued at about $204,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 178.9% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,400 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the first quarter worth approximately $214,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter worth approximately $235,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northwest Natural Gas

In related news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 10,509 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $472,905.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 51,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,336,490. The trade was a 16.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,934,461. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on NWN shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Northwest Natural Gas to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.67.

Get Our Latest Research Report on NWN

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Up 0.1%

Northwest Natural Gas stock opened at $46.27 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1-year low of $38.03 and a 1-year high of $49.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 0.55.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN — Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.73) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.82) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 8.30%. The firm had revenue of $164.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $174.66 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.71) earnings per share. Northwest Natural Gas’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.4925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is currently 78.49%.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

(Free Report)

Northwest Natural Holding Company, through its subsidiary, Northwest Natural Gas Company, provides regulated natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the United States. The company operates a mist gas storage facility contracted to other utilities, third-party marketers, and electric generators; offers natural gas asset management services; and operates an appliance retail center.

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