Insider Selling: Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) Director Sells $76,770.00 in Stock

Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) Director David Hugo Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.18, for a total value of $76,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 52,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,674,615.62. This trade represents a 2.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:NWN traded up $1.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $52.55. 58,657 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 282,018. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.93 and a beta of 0.43. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $39.29 and a fifty-two week high of $55.99.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by ($0.07). Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The company had revenue of $490.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a $0.4925 dividend. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is 67.24%.

Institutional Trading of Northwest Natural Gas

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NWN. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 79.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 63,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,112,000 after buying an additional 28,129 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new position in Northwest Natural Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Bill Few Associates Inc. boosted its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 29.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 5,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 1,336 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 197.5% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the first quarter worth $71,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NWN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded Northwest Natural Gas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northwest Natural Gas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.25.

Northwest Natural Gas Company Profile

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE: NWN), commonly known as NW Natural, is a publicly traded energy utility primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the company operates an extensive pipeline network spanning thousands of miles across Oregon and southwest Washington. Its core business activities include gas procurement, system operation and maintenance, safety inspections and customer service support.

Dating back to the mid-19th century, Northwest Natural traces its origins to the Portland Gas Light Company, which first illuminated Portland streets with manufactured gas in 1859.