Inspire Investing LLC Has $400,000 Stock Position in National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG)

Inspire Investing LLC cut its holdings in National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 280 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of National Fuel Gas by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,313,064 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $715,178,000 after acquiring an additional 104,587 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of National Fuel Gas by 2.4% during the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 2,595,437 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $139,427,000 after purchasing an additional 62,009 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of National Fuel Gas by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 2,508,682 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $134,766,000 after purchasing an additional 84,305 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 46.5% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,732,969 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $93,910,000 after buying an additional 550,153 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in National Fuel Gas by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,320,850 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $70,956,000 after buying an additional 96,410 shares in the last quarter. 73.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NFG has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on National Fuel Gas from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com cut National Fuel Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of National Fuel Gas from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th.

National Fuel Gas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NFG opened at $60.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.77. National Fuel Gas has a fifty-two week low of $45.32 and a fifty-two week high of $61.42. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.85.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $417.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $540.62 million. National Fuel Gas had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 16.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that National Fuel Gas will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 40.87%.

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.