Brandes Investment Partners LP Has $2.47 Million Position in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) by 1,040.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 62,927 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned 0.18% of Northwest Natural worth $2,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 6.5% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 506,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,272,000 after purchasing an additional 31,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Northwest Natural by 3.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 471,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,042,000 after purchasing an additional 15,523 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 298,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,634,000 after purchasing an additional 32,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Northwest Natural by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 243,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,776,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Northwest Natural Stock Up 0.9 %

NWN stock opened at $40.82 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90 and a beta of 0.57. Northwest Natural Holding has a twelve month low of $34.82 and a twelve month high of $41.20.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $211.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.99 million. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 7.18%. Northwest Natural’s quarterly revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.488 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.78%. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.53%.

Northwest Natural 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.