Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) Issues Q3 Earnings Guidance

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) updated its third quarter earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided EPS guidance of ($0.86)-($0.74) for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of ($0.77). Northwest Natural also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 2.200-2.400 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on NWN shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Northwest Natural from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northwest Natural from a hold rating to a sell rating in a 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $41.40.

Northwest Natural Price Performance

Shares of NWN stock traded down $1.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $38.92. 423,438 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 234,778. Northwest Natural has a fifty-two week low of $34.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.21. The company has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.07 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $211.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.99 million. Northwest Natural had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 6.76%. Northwest Natural’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Northwest Natural will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.488 per share. This represents a $1.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.