UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Purchases 17,711 Shares of Northwest Natural Gas Company $NWN

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Northwest Natural Gas Company (NYSE:NWN) by 12.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,711 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.38% of Northwest Natural Gas worth $7,845,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Northwest Natural Gas by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas in the second quarter worth $1,246,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the second quarter valued at $45,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural Gas during the second quarter valued at $24,160,000. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Gas by 79.7% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 63,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,112,000 after buying an additional 28,129 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northwest Natural Gas in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Northwest Natural Gas from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Northwest Natural Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.25.

Northwest Natural Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NWN opened at $49.20 on Tuesday. Northwest Natural Gas Company has a 12-month low of $40.90 and a 12-month high of $55.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $50.14 and a 200 day moving average of $50.97.

Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $243.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $271.87 million. Northwest Natural Gas had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 8.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Gas Company will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Gas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Northwest Natural Gas’s payout ratio is 65.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northwest Natural Gas news, Director David Anderson sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.86, for a total transaction of $76,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 50,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,581,602.74. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

About Northwest Natural Gas

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.