National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

NFG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of National Fuel Gas from $88.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America raised shares of National Fuel Gas from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, National Fuel Gas has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.33.

National Fuel Gas Stock Up 0.0%

National Fuel Gas stock opened at $87.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.39. National Fuel Gas has a fifty-two week low of $58.30 and a fifty-two week high of $89.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $85.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.68.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $531.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $596.12 million. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 11.15% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The business’s revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that National Fuel Gas will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in National Fuel Gas by 29.6% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,153,236 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $170,515,000 after acquiring an additional 491,890 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in National Fuel Gas by 93.7% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 951,069 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,315,000 after acquiring an additional 460,100 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in National Fuel Gas by 98.9% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 715,645 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $56,672,000 after acquiring an additional 355,800 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in National Fuel Gas in the second quarter valued at about $27,050,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in National Fuel Gas by 37.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,019,072 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $61,837,000 after acquiring an additional 279,857 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

About National Fuel Gas

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.