Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) Increases Dividend to $0.49 Per Share

Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 10th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of 0.49 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This is a boost from Northwest Natural’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49.

Northwest Natural has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.5% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 70 consecutive years. Northwest Natural has a dividend payout ratio of 68.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Northwest Natural to earn $2.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.9%.

Northwest Natural Price Performance

NWN opened at $39.99 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.38. Northwest Natural has a fifty-two week low of $34.82 and a fifty-two week high of $41.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.57.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last announced 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 ($0.13) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $211.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.99 million. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 7.18%. The business’s revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Northwest Natural will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NWN shares. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Northwest Natural from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $43.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Northwest Natural from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th.

About Northwest Natural

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.