State Street Corp Buys 51,391 Shares of Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

State Street Corp grew its position in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN - Free Report) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,817,813 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 51,391 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 4.53% of Northwest Natural worth $74,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Northwest Natural by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 251,468 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $10,265,000 after purchasing an additional 12,702 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural in the third quarter valued at $78,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Northwest Natural in the third quarter valued at about $181,000. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Northwest Natural during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,109,000. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its position in Northwest Natural by 131.7% during the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 50,124 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,046,000 after buying an additional 28,493 shares in the last quarter. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of 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 Trading Down 4.4 %

NWN traded down $1.82 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.21. The stock had a trading volume of 368,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 271,518. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $41.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50 and a beta of 0.61. 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.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.79) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $136.90 million for 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.65) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.00%. This is an increase from Northwest Natural's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Northwest Natural's payout ratio is 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.