Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires New Position in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Feb 27th, 2023

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN – Get Rating) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 31,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,370,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned about 0.09% of Northwest Natural as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Northwest Natural by 2.0% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $584,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 36.6% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 2.5% during the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 11,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 1.2% during the third quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 25,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Natural by 0.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 42,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. 74.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised Northwest Natural from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.60.

Northwest Natural Stock Performance

Shares of NWN stock opened at $47.58 on Monday. Northwest Natural Holding has a 12-month low of $42.37 and a 12-month high of $57.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.11. Northwest Natural had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 8.32%. The business had revenue of $375.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Northwest Natural Holding will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Northwest Natural Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 31st were given a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 30th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.21%.

Northwest Natural Profile

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Northwest Natural Holding Co engages in the local distribution of gas and water through its subsidiaries. It supplies natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. The company founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Portland, OR.