Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN - Free Report) by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 305,690 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 30,300 shares during the quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.76% of Northwest Natural worth $12,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NWN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Northwest Natural by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,999 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,229,000 after acquiring an additional 7,715 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,081 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 46.2% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 25,863 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $963,000 after purchasing an additional 8,173 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 173.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 796 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Northwest Natural by 257.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,738 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,692 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price 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.

Northwest Natural Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NWN traded down $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.93. 134,201 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 274,744. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $40.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.25 and a beta of 0.61. Northwest Natural Holding has a 12-month low of $34.82 and a 12-month high of $44.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $136.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $132.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.65) EPS. The company's revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This is a boost from Northwest Natural's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Northwest Natural's payout ratio is currently 92.45%.

Northwest Natural 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.