Chase Investment Counsel Corp Cuts Position in National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp reduced its stake in National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,513 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,034 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp’s holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in National Fuel Gas by 2.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,190,115 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $684,699,000 after acquiring an additional 311,599 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in National Fuel Gas by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,868,815 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $200,830,000 after buying an additional 641,010 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 2,456,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $127,491,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,202,352 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $62,414,000 after purchasing an additional 22,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 855,669 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,418,000 after acquiring an additional 33,903 shares during the period. 73.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on National Fuel Gas from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised National Fuel Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th.

National Fuel Gas Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NFG stock opened at $53.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.85. National Fuel Gas has a fifty-two week low of $45.32 and a fifty-two week high of $56.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.14. National Fuel Gas had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 21.58%. The business had revenue of $525.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $664.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. National Fuel Gas’s revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that National Fuel Gas will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.495 per share. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio is 41.51%.

National Fuel Gas Profile

National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields.