NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $72.70

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.70.

NWE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered NorthWestern from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st.

NorthWestern Price Performance

NASDAQ:NWE opened at $68.38 on Monday. NorthWestern has a 1-year low of $56.62 and a 1-year high of $75.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a PE ratio of 24.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.34.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $392.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 10.13%.NorthWestern’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that NorthWestern will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NWE. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in NorthWestern by 23.8% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 75,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,965,000 after acquiring an additional 14,478 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 26.8% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 277,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,878,000 after acquiring an additional 58,577 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of NorthWestern by 4,774.6% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,252,000 after purchasing an additional 211,705 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of NorthWestern by 34.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 56,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,721,000 after purchasing an additional 14,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 29.2% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 76,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,015,000 after purchasing an additional 17,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Company Profile

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc, doing business as NorthWestern Energy, is an energy utility that provides electricity and natural gas services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company’s operations include the generation, purchase, transmission, and distribution of electricity, as well as the distribution and supply of natural gas.

NorthWestern Energy serves customers primarily in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Its electric generation portfolio includes a combination of company-owned facilities and purchased power from sources such as hydroelectric, coal, natural gas, and renewable energy.