Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) Price Target to $44.00

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) had its price target cut by Stifel Nicolaus from $45.00 to $44.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

NWN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded Northwest Natural from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $43.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Northwest Natural from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th.

Northwest Natural Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NWN opened at $41.15 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41 and a beta of 0.58. Northwest Natural has a fifty-two week low of $34.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.56.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.79) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $136.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.47 million. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 5.89% and a net margin of 6.90%. Northwest Natural’s revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.65) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Northwest Natural will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.76%. This is a boost from Northwest Natural’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio is 92.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northwest Natural

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,421,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $164,572,000 after purchasing an additional 71,214 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,031,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 6.0% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 475,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,680,000 after acquiring an additional 27,000 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Northwest Natural by 58.8% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 65,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,351,000 after buying an additional 24,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in Northwest Natural by 113.2% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 235,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,762,000 after buying an additional 125,000 shares in the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Northwest Natural

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.