National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.52

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.515 per share by the oil and gas producer on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th.

National Fuel Gas has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 55 consecutive years. National Fuel Gas has a payout ratio of 33.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect National Fuel Gas to earn $5.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.5%.

National Fuel Gas Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NFG opened at $60.61 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $59.22 and its 200 day moving average is $56.21. National Fuel Gas has a fifty-two week low of $45.32 and a fifty-two week high of $61.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.03 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.77.

National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.03. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 16.42% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The business had revenue of $417.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $540.62 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that National Fuel Gas will post 5.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NFG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of National Fuel Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of National Fuel Gas from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of National Fuel Gas from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Michael W. Reville sold 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.77, for a total transaction of $103,309.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $498,496.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.55% of the company’s stock.

About National Fuel Gas

National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields.