Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Makes New Investment in National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 2nd, 2023

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG – Get Rating) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,714 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $475,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,298,076 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $504,599,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252,192 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,208,957 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $701,355,000 after acquiring an additional 822,589 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 398.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 487,949 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $32,228,000 after acquiring an additional 390,092 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of National Fuel Gas in the 3rd quarter valued at $16,152,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 160.8% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 404,404 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $27,782,000 after acquiring an additional 249,312 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of National Fuel Gas from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $91.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th.

National Fuel Gas Price Performance

NFG opened at $57.41 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.07. The firm has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.69. National Fuel Gas has a twelve month low of $56.21 and a twelve month high of $75.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $658.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $600.10 million. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 26.25% and a return on equity of 27.11%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.48 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that National Fuel Gas will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

National Fuel Gas Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 29th. National Fuel Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.05%.

About National Fuel Gas

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National Fuel Gas Co is a holding company, which engages in the production, gathering, transportation, storage, and distribution of natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment seeks to discover and produce raw materials.