National Fuel Gas Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.52 (NYSE:NFG)

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of 0.515 per share by the oil and gas producer on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th.

National Fuel Gas has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.5% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 55 consecutive years. National Fuel Gas has a payout ratio of 33.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect National Fuel Gas to earn $5.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.5%.

National Fuel Gas Stock Up 2.8 %

NYSE:NFG opened at $60.61 on Friday. National Fuel Gas has a 1-year low of $45.32 and a 1-year high of $61.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $59.22 and a 200 day moving average of $56.21. The firm has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.03 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.03. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 16.42% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The company had revenue of $417.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $540.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that National Fuel Gas will post 5.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Michael W. Reville sold 1,700 shares of National Fuel Gas stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.77, for a total transaction of $103,309.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,203 shares in the company, valued at $498,496.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of National Fuel Gas from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on National Fuel Gas from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered National Fuel Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

National Fuel Gas Company Profile

National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields.