Short Interest in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) Increases By 43.8%

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,404,543 shares, a growth of 43.8% from the November 30th total of 1,672,194 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 612,478 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Based on an average daily volume of 612,478 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Approximately 3.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on NWE. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Barclays raised shares of NorthWestern to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Monday, December 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.00.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

Shares of NWE stock traded up $0.56 on Monday, hitting $64.86. 217,824 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 468,860. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $64.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.45. NorthWestern has a one year low of $50.46 and a one year high of $69.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 18.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $386.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $380.96 million. NorthWestern had a net margin of 13.82% and a return on equity of 7.56%.

About NorthWestern

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ: NWE) is a regulated energy company that delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its Electric Operations and Gas Operations segments, the company operates an extensive network of distribution lines, substations and pipelines. NorthWestern’s services encompass the delivery of power sourced from regional transmission systems and the procurement, storage and distribution of natural gas to end users.

Electric delivery services include the management of distribution infrastructure, customer metering and system reliability programs.