WINTON GROUP Ltd Buys Shares of 56,242 Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 56,242 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,031,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd owned about 0.15% of Northwest Natural at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Northwest Natural during the fourth quarter worth $8,569,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 113.2% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 235,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,762,000 after purchasing an additional 125,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Northwest Natural by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,421,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,572,000 after buying an additional 71,214 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in Northwest Natural in the first quarter valued at about $2,619,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Northwest Natural during the first quarter worth about $2,156,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Natural Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NWN opened at $40.33 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.97. Northwest Natural Holding has a 1 year low of $34.82 and a 1 year high of $41.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69 and a beta of 0.57.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $211.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.99 million. Northwest Natural had a net margin of 7.18% and a return on equity of 6.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. Analysts forecast that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.488 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.95 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.84%. Northwest Natural’s payout ratio is 85.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NWN. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Northwest Natural from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Northwest Natural from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

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.