Foundry Partners LLC Sells 1,471 Shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

Foundry Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) by 17.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,114 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,471 shares during the quarter. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group were worth $362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.3% during the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 76,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,917,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 4.1% in the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 8,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. now owns 12,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 2.0% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 15,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on NWE shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NorthWestern Energy Group news, VP John D. Hines sold 1,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.15, for a total value of $80,049.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,677,413.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP John D. Hines sold 1,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.15, for a total transaction of $80,049.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,677,413.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Britt E. Ide sold 687 shares of NorthWestern Energy Group stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.30, for a total value of $35,243.10. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,640 shares in the company, valued at $545,832. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,602 shares of company stock worth $183,805. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE NWE traded down $0.69 on Friday, hitting $52.36. 52,617 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 330,384. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $50.72 and a 200-day moving average of $49.76. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.97 and a 12 month high of $58.38.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $475.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $471.60 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 13.62%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is 80.50%.

NorthWestern Energy Group Profile

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and various industrial customers. It generates, purchases, transmits, and distributes electricity; and produces, purchases, stores, transmits, and distributes natural gas, as well as owns municipal franchises to provide natural gas service in the communities.