Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.13 EPS

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) released its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The utilities provider reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.13), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $433.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $447.81 million. Northwest Natural had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 7.52%. Northwest Natural’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.01 EPS.

Northwest Natural Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE NWN opened at $37.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.57 and a beta of 0.54. Northwest Natural has a 12 month low of $34.95 and a 12 month high of $47.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $37.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Northwest Natural Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.488 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.15%. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on NWN shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Northwest Natural from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of Northwest Natural in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Northwest Natural has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.40.

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.