Northwest Natural Holding Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.49 (NYSE:NWN)

Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 14th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of 0.49 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.98%.

Northwest Natural has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.5% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 70 consecutive years. Northwest Natural has a dividend payout ratio of 65.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Northwest Natural to earn $2.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.4%.

Northwest Natural Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE NWN traded up $0.65 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.37. The company had a trading volume of 231,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 178,636. Northwest Natural has a 12-month low of $34.82 and a 12-month high of $44.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of 18.57 and a beta of 0.62. The business's 50-day moving average is $40.98 and its 200 day moving average is $39.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.79) by $0.08. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 5.89% and a net margin of 6.90%. The firm had revenue of $136.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $132.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.65) earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Northwest Natural will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Northwest Natural from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Insider Activity at Northwest Natural

In other Northwest Natural news, CEO David Hugo Anderson sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.78, for a total transaction of $298,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 144,298 shares in the company, valued at $5,740,174.44. The trade was a 4.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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