Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) Updates Q4 Earnings Guidance

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) updated its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.43-1.63 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.49. Northwest Natural also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 2.200-2.400 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Northwest Natural from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Northwest Natural from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $41.40.

Northwest Natural Stock Performance

NWN traded down $1.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.92. The stock had a trading volume of 423,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 234,778. Northwest Natural has a twelve month low of $34.82 and a twelve month high of $42.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.07 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $37.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.21.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $211.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.99 million. Northwest Natural had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 6.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.03 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Northwest Natural will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.488 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.02%. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.53%.

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.