Northwest Natural (NWN) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. It also engages in gas storage, water and wastewater, non-regulated renewable natural gas, and other investment businesses. In addition, the company provides natural gas service in Oregon and southwest Washington; and water and wastewater connections. Northwest Natural Holding Company was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $38.93 to $39.54
• 50-Day Range: $37.75 to $40.82
• 52-Week Range: $34.82 to $41.20
• Volume: 541,149 shs
• Average Volume: 287,955 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.50 billion
• P/E Ratio: 17.33
• Dividend Yield: 4.93%
• Price Target: $40.00
• Consensus Rating: Buy

Northwest Natural Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Northwest Natural scored higher than 85% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 29th out of 93 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 1.5 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Buy

Consensus Rating

Northwest Natural has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 3.00, and is based on 2 buy ratings, no hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Northwest Natural has only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 26.29%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Northwest Natural are expected to grow by 26.29% in the coming year, from $2.32 to $2.93 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Northwest Natural is 17.33, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 118.99.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Northwest Natural is 17.33, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 55.14.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Northwest Natural has a P/B Ratio of 1.13. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.51% of the outstanding shares of Northwest Natural have been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Northwest Natural has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.3, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Northwest Natural has recently decreased by 9.19%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Northwest Natural is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 4.83%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Northwest Natural has been increasing its dividend for 69 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Northwest Natural is 85.53%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Northwest Natural will have a dividend payout ratio of 66.55% next year. This indicates that Northwest Natural will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.51% of the outstanding shares of Northwest Natural have been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Northwest Natural has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.3, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Northwest Natural has recently decreased by 9.19%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.45

News Sentiment

Northwest Natural has a news sentiment score of 1.45. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.62 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 4 news articles for Northwest Natural this week, compared to 3 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 9 people have searched for NWN on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -36% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

3 people have added Northwest Natural to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 50% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Northwest Natural insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.84% of the stock of Northwest Natural is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

75.13% of the stock of Northwest Natural is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

NWN Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have NWN shares performed this year?

Northwest Natural's stock was trading at $38.94 at the beginning of 2024. Since then, NWN stock has increased by 1.5% and is now trading at $39.52.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Northwest Natural's earnings last quarter?

Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August, 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.06. The firm's revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis.

How do I buy shares of Northwest Natural?

Shares of NWN stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Northwest Natural own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Northwest Natural investors own include Cisco Systems (CSCO), General Electric (GE), Pfizer (PFE), AT&T (T), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Consolidated Edison (ED) and Ford Motor (F).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 8/15 Dividend: 7/31/2024
• Last Earnings: 8/02/2024
• Dividend Payable: 8/15/2024
• Today: 10/06/2024
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/01/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: Natural gas distribution
• Sub-Industry: Gas Utilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:NWN
• CUSIP: 66765510
• CIK: 73020
• Web: www.nwnatural.com
• Phone: (503) 226-4211
• Fax: 503-273-4822
• Employees: 1,380
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $40.00
• High Stock Price Target: $43.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $37.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +1.2%
• Consensus Rating: Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 3.00
• Research Coverage: 2 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $2.28
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 17.33
• Forward P/E Ratio: 17.03
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $93.87 million
• Net Margins: 7.18%
• Pretax Margin: 9.85%
• Return on Equity: 6.31%
• Return on Assets: 1.71%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.17
• Current Ratio: 0.97
• Quick Ratio: 0.73

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.14 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.32
• Cash Flow: $5.99 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 6.60
• Book Value: $34.91 per share
• Price / Book: 1.13

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 38,028,000
• Free Float: 37,709,000
• Market Cap: $1.50 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.57