Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) Stock Holdings Lowered by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) by 41.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 159,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 110,949 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.41% of Northwest Natural worth $6,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Northwest Natural by 1.6% during the first 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 in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Northwest Natural during the second quarter valued at about $2,031,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Northwest Natural by 58.8% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 65,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,351,000 after buying an additional 24,110 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in Northwest Natural by 113.2% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 235,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,762,000 after buying an additional 125,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Northwest Natural by 30.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,999 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,229,000 after buying an additional 7,715 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Northwest Natural from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Northwest Natural from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Northwest Natural from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th.

Northwest Natural Price Performance

Shares of NWN opened at $43.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38 and a beta of 0.58. Northwest Natural Holding has a fifty-two week low of $34.82 and a fifty-two week high of $43.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50-day moving average is $40.29 and its 200-day moving average is $38.73.

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

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. This is an increase from Northwest Natural’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.45%.

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.