Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.79) by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 5.89% and a net margin of 6.90%. The company had revenue of $136.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $132.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.65) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Northwest Natural updated its FY24 guidance to $2.20-2.40 EPS.

Northwest Natural Trading Down 1.6 %

NWN stock traded down $0.66 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $40.63. 292,041 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 279,220. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.36 and a beta of 0.58. Northwest Natural has a one year low of $34.82 and a one year high of $42.56.

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. 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. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.82%. Northwest Natural’s payout ratio is 92.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on NWN. Janney Montgomery Scott raised Northwest Natural from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $36.00 to $43.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Northwest Natural from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Northwest Natural from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday.

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.