Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $6.49 Million Position in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) by 41.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. 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.’s holdings in Northwest Natural were worth $6,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWN. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 125,000 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Northwest Natural by 406.0% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 144,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,207,000 after purchasing an additional 115,698 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 71,214 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its holdings in 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 valued at $2,467,000 after purchasing an additional 62,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,031,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NWN. 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 increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Northwest Natural from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Northwest Natural Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NWN stock opened at $43.78 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.38 and a beta of 0.58. Northwest Natural Holding has a one year low of $34.82 and a one year high of $43.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

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

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.48%. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.