Grace & White Inc. NY Has $4.06 Million Holdings in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

Grace & White Inc. NY cut its holdings in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 99,409 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY owned 0.26% of Northwest Natural worth $4,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in shares of 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 worth $8,762,000 after purchasing an additional 125,000 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 406.0% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 144,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,207,000 after purchasing an additional 115,698 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,421,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $164,572,000 after purchasing an additional 71,214 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural during the first quarter worth approximately $2,619,000. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 1,040.1% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 68,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,467,000 after purchasing an additional 62,927 shares during the period. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Northwest Natural Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Northwest Natural stock opened at $40.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.21. Northwest Natural Holding has a 12-month low of $34.82 and a 12-month high of $41.25. 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 current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.06. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 7.18%. The business had revenue of $211.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.03 earnings per share. Northwest Natural’s revenue was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.84%. This is an increase from Northwest Natural’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio is 85.96%.

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.