Jacobi Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

Jacobi Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,021 shares during the quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Northwest Natural were worth $228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 47.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 384,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,688,000 after purchasing an additional 123,961 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 125,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,959,000 after purchasing an additional 26,152 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,817,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,203,000 after purchasing an additional 51,391 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Northwest Natural by 351.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 63,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,601,000 after buying an additional 49,606 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Northwest Natural by 5.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 568,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,226,000 after buying an additional 29,682 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Northwest Natural from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Natural

In other news, CEO David Hugo Anderson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.33, for a total transaction of $309,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 137,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,692,876.86. This represents a 5.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,009 shares of company stock valued at $936,978. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Northwest Natural Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of NWN stock opened at $42.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 19.99 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.43. Northwest Natural Holding has a 1-year low of $34.82 and a 1-year high of $44.25.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $370.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $395.05 million. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 5.89% and a net margin of 6.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.63%. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.55%.

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.