MQS Management LLC Buys 6,152 Shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

MQS Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 95.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,152 shares during the quarter. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in Northwest Natural Gas were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NWN. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 24.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 3.6% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 23,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the first quarter valued at approximately $250,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 2.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 199,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,537,000 after purchasing an additional 5,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the first quarter valued at approximately $204,000. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Northwest Natural Gas Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE NWN opened at $47.76 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.91. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a fifty-two week low of $38.03 and a fifty-two week high of $47.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.88 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.08. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 8.60%. The business had revenue of $236.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $252.70 million. Northwest Natural Gas has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.750-2.950 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $0.4925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. This is an increase from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.47%.

Insider Activity at Northwest Natural Gas

In related news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.39, for a total value of $347,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 44,422 shares in the company, valued at $2,060,736.58. This represents a 14.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 42,869 shares of company stock valued at $1,882,588. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on NWN shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a report on Saturday. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded shares of Northwest Natural Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. 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 stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.67.

About Northwest Natural Gas

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.