Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) CEO Sells $298,350.00 in Stock

Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) 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 value of $298,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 144,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,740,174.44. This represents a 4.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Northwest Natural Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:NWN opened at $39.68 on Thursday. Northwest Natural Holding has a 52 week low of $34.82 and a 52 week high of $44.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 18.72 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.46.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.79) by $0.08. The business 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%. Northwest Natural’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.65) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.94%. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio is 92.45%.

Institutional Trading of Northwest Natural

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Northwest Natural by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 13,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Northwest Natural by 3.2% during the third quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 12,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Northwest Natural by 4.3% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Northwest Natural by 55.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Northwest Natural by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 29,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,204,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target 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 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.