Guardian Wealth Management Inc. Purchases 389 Shares of Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Northwest Natural were worth $506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Northwest Natural by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,817,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,203,000 after buying an additional 51,391 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Northwest Natural by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 568,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,226,000 after acquiring an additional 29,682 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in Northwest Natural by 6.5% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 506,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,272,000 after acquiring an additional 31,000 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Northwest Natural by 3.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 471,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,042,000 after purchasing an additional 15,523 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural during the third quarter valued at approximately $12,250,000. 75.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Northwest Natural from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Northwest Natural Price Performance

NWN opened at $41.90 on Monday. Northwest Natural Holding has a 1 year low of $34.82 and a 1 year high of $44.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.11. The firm has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.76 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

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

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.49 dividend. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.68%. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.45%.

Northwest Natural 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.