National Fuel Gas Company $NFG Shares Bought by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE:NFG) by 10.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 81,256 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,832 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in National Fuel Gas were worth $6,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of National Fuel Gas during the 2nd quarter worth $748,569,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in National Fuel Gas by 3.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,035,345 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $343,962,000 after acquiring an additional 132,855 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC purchased a new stake in National Fuel Gas during the second quarter valued at about $231,309,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in National Fuel Gas by 103.4% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,138,153 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $197,501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087,067 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in National Fuel Gas by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,816,217 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $145,446,000 after acquiring an additional 121,099 shares during the period. 73.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

National Fuel Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NFG stock opened at $82.97 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.49. National Fuel Gas Company has a 52 week low of $75.17 and a 52 week high of $97.06. The company has a current ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 3.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 11.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.37.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.10. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 26.97% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The business had revenue of $537.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that National Fuel Gas Company will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

National Fuel Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.555 per share. This is a boost from National Fuel Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. National Fuel Gas’s payout ratio is presently 30.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on NFG. Weiss Ratings downgraded National Fuel Gas from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen cut National Fuel Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.50.

National Fuel Gas Company Profile

National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE: NFG) is a diversified energy company engaged primarily in the production, gathering, transmission, distribution and marketing of natural gas. The company operates through four principal segments: Exploration & Production, Pipeline & Storage, Utilities, and Energy Marketing. Its integrated asset base spans upstream development in the Appalachian Basin, regional pipeline networks, underground storage facilities, and regulated utility distribution systems.

In its Exploration & Production segment, National Fuel Gas focuses on developing natural gas reserves in the Marcellus and Utica shales, leveraging modern drilling and completion techniques.