First Washington CORP Lowers Stock Position in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

First Washington CORP decreased its position in shares of Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) by 21.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 89,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 24,650 shares during the quarter. First Washington CORP’s holdings in Northwest Natural were worth $3,242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NWN. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 465,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,127,000 after buying an additional 26,540 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 56,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,211,000 after acquiring an additional 9,514 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural during the fourth quarter worth about $8,569,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Northwest Natural by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Northwest Natural during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,147,000. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Northwest Natural Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE NWN opened at $40.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.69. Northwest Natural Holding has a one year low of $34.82 and a one year high of $41.20. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.76 and a beta of 0.57. 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 (NYSE:NWN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.06. Northwest Natural had a net margin of 7.18% and a return on equity of 6.31%. The firm had revenue of $211.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.488 dividend. This represents a $1.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.82%. The ex-dividend date was 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.