Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) Shares Bought by Gamco Investors INC. ET AL

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its position in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) by 113.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 235,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 125,000 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned about 0.62% of Northwest Natural worth $8,762,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Northwest Natural in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 686.5% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural during the first quarter worth about $48,000. Clarity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Northwest Natural during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Northwest Natural in the 1st quarter valued at about $93,000. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Northwest Natural from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Northwest Natural from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.40.

Northwest Natural Price Performance

Shares of Northwest Natural stock traded up $0.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 151,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 235,552. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $36.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.15. Northwest Natural Holding has a 12-month low of $34.82 and a 12-month high of $44.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.86 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $433.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $447.81 million. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 6.76% and a net margin of 7.36%. Northwest Natural’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a $0.488 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.79%. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.53%.

Northwest Natural Company Profile

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.