Northwest Natural (NWN) Scheduled to Post Earnings on Friday

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) is scheduled to post its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Friday, August 2nd. Analysts expect Northwest Natural to post earnings of ($0.06) per share for the quarter. Individual that are interested in participating in the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.13). Northwest Natural had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 6.76%. The company had revenue of $433.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $447.81 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect Northwest Natural to post $2 EPS for the current fiscal year and $3 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Northwest Natural stock opened at $40.01 on Thursday. Northwest Natural has a one year low of $34.82 and a one year high of $43.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.98 and its 200 day moving average is $37.19. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55 and a beta of 0.57.

Northwest Natural Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.488 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.88%. Northwest Natural’s payout ratio is 85.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective 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 cut Northwest Natural from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.40.

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.