Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Trims Holdings in Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lowered its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 41.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 26,070 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Northwest Natural Gas were worth $1,450,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 29.4% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the period. State of Wyoming increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas by 65.9% during the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 9,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 3,650 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 7.9% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 137,384 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,457,000 after purchasing an additional 10,094 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in Northwest Natural Gas by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 66,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,640,000 after purchasing an additional 3,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 523.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 3,584 shares during the period. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northwest Natural Gas Price Performance

NWN stock opened at $46.85 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $47.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67 and a beta of 0.55. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 1 year low of $38.03 and a 1 year high of $49.63.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.73) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.82) by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $164.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $174.66 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 8.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.71) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given a $0.4925 dividend. 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 4.2%. This is a boost from Northwest Natural Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is currently 78.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northwest Natural Gas

In other news, Director David Hugo Anderson sold 7,468 shares of Northwest Natural Gas stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total transaction of $358,090.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 36,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,771,944.30. The trade was a 16.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,969 shares of company stock valued at $1,606,105. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Northwest Natural Gas 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.