Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) Plans $0.49 Quarterly Dividend

Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 10th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.49 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th.

Northwest Natural has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.5% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 70 years. Northwest Natural has a dividend payout ratio of 64.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Northwest Natural to earn $2.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.4%.

Northwest Natural Stock Up 0.1 %

Northwest Natural stock opened at $44.01 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.85 and a 200-day moving average of $41.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of 20.76 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Northwest Natural has a twelve month low of $34.82 and a twelve month high of $44.38.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.01). Northwest Natural had a net margin of 6.90% and a return on equity of 5.89%. The company had revenue of $370.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $395.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. Northwest Natural’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David A. Weber sold 2,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.46, for a total value of $92,690.18. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,827.30. The trade was a 89.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David Hugo Anderson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.97, for a total transaction of $307,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 130,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,336,014.74. This represents a 5.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,192 shares of company stock valued at $1,054,793 over the last 90 days. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.