Northwest Natural Holding (NWN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.49 on November 15th

Northwest Natural Holding (NYSE:NWN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 10th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of 0.49 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This is a positive change from Northwest Natural’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49.

Northwest Natural has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.5% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 70 years. Northwest Natural has a payout ratio of 68.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Northwest Natural to earn $2.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.9%.

Northwest Natural Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NWN stock opened at $40.43 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.35. Northwest Natural has a twelve month low of $34.82 and a twelve month high of $41.25.

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.06. Northwest Natural had a net margin of 7.18% and a return on equity of 6.31%. The business had revenue of $211.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.03 earnings per share. Northwest Natural’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Northwest Natural will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NWN shares. StockNews.com raised Northwest Natural from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Janney Montgomery Scott raised Northwest Natural from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

About Northwest Natural

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.