Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) Updates Q4 Earnings Guidance

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) issued an update on its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.43-1.63 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.49. Northwest Natural also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 2.200-2.400 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Northwest Natural from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Northwest Natural from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $41.40.

Northwest Natural Trading Down 3.6 %

NYSE NWN opened at $38.92 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.21. Northwest Natural has a one year low of $34.82 and a one year high of $42.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Northwest Natural Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.488 per share. This represents a $1.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.53%.

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.