William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 42,892 Shares of NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 413,328 shares of the company’s stock after selling 42,892 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $26,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in NorthWestern by 263.3% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in NorthWestern by 3,221.4% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in NorthWestern by 142.0% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NorthWestern by 1,220.0% during the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. Finally, PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new stake in NorthWestern during the third quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on NWE shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 price target on shares of NorthWestern in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.30.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

Shares of NWE stock opened at $71.93 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $69.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.01. NorthWestern Corporation has a 12-month low of $50.46 and a 12-month high of $75.18. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.35.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $516.60 million during the quarter. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. NorthWestern’s payout ratio is currently 98.53%.

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.