Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Acquires 9,286 Shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN — Free Report) by 35.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,286 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned about 0.09% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $1,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NWN. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 6.1% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 132,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,262,000 after purchasing an additional 7,573 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 266,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,583,000 after buying an additional 6,162 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at about $235,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter valued at about $342,000. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 20.7% in the second quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 940,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,355,000 after acquiring an additional 161,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northwest Natural Gas

In other news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 10,509 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $472,905.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 51,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,336,490. This trade represents a 16.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 42,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,934,461 over the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. BTIG Research raised Northwest Natural Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Northwest Natural Gas from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.67.

Read Our Latest Report on Northwest Natural Gas

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

NYSE:NWN opened at $48.88 on Wednesday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 12-month low of $38.03 and a 12-month high of $49.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $45.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN — Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.73) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by $0.09. Northwest Natural Gas had a return on equity of 8.60% and a net margin of 8.34%.The company had revenue of $164.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $174.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.71) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a $0.4925 dividend. This is an increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.49%.

About Northwest Natural Gas

(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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