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: $39.32 to $39.78
• 50-Day Range: $38.42 to $43.83
• 52-Week Range: $34.82 to $44.25
• Volume: 84,669 shs
• Average Volume: 273,000 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.59 billion
• P/E Ratio: 18.72
• Dividend Yield: 4.94%
• Price Target: $43.50
• Consensus Rating: Buy

Northwest Natural Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Northwest Natural scored higher than 93% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 34th out of 91 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: 2.5 / 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: 24.89%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Northwest Natural are expected to grow by 24.89% in the coming year, from $2.33 to $2.91 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Northwest Natural is 18.63, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 113.10.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Northwest Natural is 18.63, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 95.78.

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

1.69% 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 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 10.34%, 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 4.95%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Northwest Natural has been increasing its dividend for 70 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Northwest Natural is 92.45%. 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 67.35% 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

1.69% 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 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 10.34%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.57

News Sentiment

Northwest Natural has a news sentiment score of 0.57. 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 news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 5 news articles for Northwest Natural this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

10 people have searched for NWN on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 43% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

2 people have added Northwest Natural to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 100% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Northwest Natural insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $298,350.00 in 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 the year. Since then, NWN stock has increased by 1.4% and is now trading at $39.50.
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 results on Tuesday, November, 12th. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.79) by $0.08. Northwest Natural's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Who are Northwest Natural's major shareholders?

Northwest Natural's top institutional investors include State Street Corp (4.53%), Geode Capital Management LLC (2.20%), Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. (1.47%) and Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC (0.76%). Insiders that own company stock include David Hugo Anderson, David A Weber and Jane L Peverett.
View institutional ownership trends.

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 American Water Works (AWK), Humana (HUM), Waste Connections (WCN), DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH), The RMR Group (RMR), AUO (AUOTY) and Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 11/15 Dividend: 10/31/2024
• Last Earnings: 11/12/2024
• Dividend Payable: 11/15/2024
• Today: 12/24/2024
• 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: $43.50
• High Stock Price Target: $44.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $43.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +10.1%
• Consensus Rating: Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 3.00
• Research Coverage: 2 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $2.12
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 18.63
• Forward P/E Ratio: 16.95
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $93.87 million
• Net Margins: 6.90%
• Pretax Margin: 9.40%
• Return on Equity: 5.89%
• Return on Assets: 1.61%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.15
• Current Ratio: 0.72
• Quick Ratio: 0.53

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.14 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.39
• Cash Flow: $5.72 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 6.91
• Book Value: $34.91 per share
• Price / Book: 1.13

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 40,132,000
• Free Float: 39,795,000
• Market Cap: $1.59 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.61