NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.10.

NWE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated 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 boosted their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $75.50 in a report on Wednesday, April 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NorthWestern

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in NorthWestern by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,637,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,238,000 after acquiring an additional 14,751 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,436,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,728,000 after purchasing an additional 98,472 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 65.6% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,222,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,708,000 after purchasing an additional 484,266 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 69.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,241,000 after purchasing an additional 471,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in NorthWestern by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,023,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,815 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NorthWestern Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWE opened at $71.80 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. NorthWestern has a twelve month low of $51.92 and a twelve month high of $75.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $70.99 and its 200-day moving average is $69.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.34.

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

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio is 98.53%.

NorthWestern Company Profile

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.