Choreo LLC Purchases 4,931 Shares of Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

Choreo LLC raised its position in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) by 91.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,931 shares during the period. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Northwest Natural were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NWN. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Northwest Natural in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in Northwest Natural by 692.4% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Northwest Natural by 55.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Northwest Natural during the third quarter worth $61,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Northwest Natural in the third quarter worth $78,000. 75.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Northwest Natural from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Northwest Natural Stock Up 0.1 %

Northwest Natural stock opened at $40.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27 and a beta of 0.62. Northwest Natural Holding has a 52-week low of $34.82 and a 52-week high of $44.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.19.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.79) by $0.08. Northwest Natural had a net margin of 6.90% and a return on equity of 5.89%. The business had revenue of $136.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $132.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.65) earnings per share. Northwest Natural’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio is 92.45%.

Northwest Natural 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.