NFG

National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) completed its acquisition of CenterPoint Energy's Ohio natural gas utility business for $2.62 billion, adding approximately 335,000 customers and expanding its total customer base to 1.1 million. The deal is expected to double NFG's gas utility rate base to $3.2 billion and provide immediate accretion to regulated earnings per share, with consolidated accretion expected after fiscal 2028.

The article reviews the First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX ETF (FXU), a passively managed utilities sector ETF with $742.3 million in assets. FXU has gained 3.08% year-to-date and 0.74% over the past year, with a 0.61% expense ratio. However, it received a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), making it less suitable compared to alternatives like Vanguard Utilities Index Fund ETF Shares (VPU) and State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), which have lower expense ratios and significantly larger asset bases.