Nordea Investment Management AB Raises Holdings in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) by 26.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 125,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,152 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Northwest Natural were worth $4,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in Northwest Natural in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,031,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Northwest Natural by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,817,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,203,000 after purchasing an additional 51,391 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in Northwest Natural by 155.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Northwest Natural by 351.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 63,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,601,000 after purchasing an additional 49,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Northwest Natural by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 568,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,226,000 after purchasing an additional 29,682 shares in the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Hugo Anderson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.78, for a total transaction of $298,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 144,298 shares in the company, valued at $5,740,174.44. This trade represents a 4.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Northwest Natural Stock Performance

NYSE NWN opened at $38.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.75. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.62. Northwest Natural Holding has a 1-year low of $34.82 and a 1-year high of $44.25.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.79) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $136.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.47 million. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 5.89% and a net margin of 6.90%. Northwest Natural’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.65) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Northwest Natural from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

About Northwest Natural

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.