WNY Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in National Fuel Gas Company $NFG

WNY Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,155 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 388 shares during the period. WNY Asset Management LLC’s holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $2,639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NFG. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in National Fuel Gas by 29.6% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,153,236 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $170,515,000 after buying an additional 491,890 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of National Fuel Gas by 93.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 951,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,315,000 after purchasing an additional 460,100 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of National Fuel Gas by 98.9% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 715,645 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $56,672,000 after purchasing an additional 355,800 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of National Fuel Gas in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,050,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of National Fuel Gas in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $20,892,000. 73.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of National Fuel Gas in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of National Fuel Gas from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.00.

National Fuel Gas Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE NFG opened at $80.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $87.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.65. The company has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.58. National Fuel Gas Company has a 12 month low of $58.82 and a 12 month high of $94.13.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $531.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $596.12 million. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 11.15% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The company’s revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that National Fuel Gas Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.535 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $2.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.45%.

National Fuel Gas Company Profile

National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields.