Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $2.20-2.40 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Northwest Natural from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Northwest Natural from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of Northwest Natural from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

Northwest Natural Price Performance

NWN stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Thursday, hitting $41.25. The stock had a trading volume of 11,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 277,950. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.59. Northwest Natural has a 1-year low of $34.82 and a 1-year high of $42.56. The stock has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The utilities provider reported ($0.71) earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $136.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.65) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Northwest Natural will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Natural Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.75%. This is an increase from Northwest Natural’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Northwest Natural’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.45%.

Northwest Natural Company 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.