National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) Receives $98.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $98.00.

A number of research firms have weighed in on NFG. Scotiabank cut shares of National Fuel Gas from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a report on Monday.

National Fuel Gas Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE NFG opened at $81.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $7.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. National Fuel Gas has a 12 month low of $60.03 and a 12 month high of $94.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $81.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.79.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $466.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $534.57 million. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 22.86% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that National Fuel Gas will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.535 per share. This represents a $2.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,035,345 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $343,962,000 after acquiring an additional 132,855 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of National Fuel Gas by 2.1% during the second quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 2,295,208 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $194,427,000 after purchasing an additional 46,616 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 103.4% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,138,153 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $197,501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087,067 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 0.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,693,980 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $143,531,000 after purchasing an additional 4,995 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 1.0% in the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,510,907 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $127,989,000 after purchasing an additional 15,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

About National Fuel Gas

National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE: NFG) is a diversified energy company engaged primarily in the production, gathering, transmission, distribution and marketing of natural gas. The company operates through four principal segments: Exploration & Production, Pipeline & Storage, Utilities, and Energy Marketing. Its integrated asset base spans upstream development in the Appalachian Basin, regional pipeline networks, underground storage facilities, and regulated utility distribution systems.

In its Exploration & Production segment, National Fuel Gas focuses on developing natural gas reserves in the Marcellus and Utica shales, leveraging modern drilling and completion techniques.