Systematic Financial Management LP Reduces Stock Position in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Systematic Financial Management LP decreased its position in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,159,753 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,227 shares during the quarter. NorthWestern makes up 1.8% of Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Systematic Financial Management LP owned about 1.89% of NorthWestern worth $74,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,968,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,002,000 after purchasing an additional 16,602 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,594,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,530 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,338,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,436,000 after purchasing an additional 4,261 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in NorthWestern by 65.6% in 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 buying an additional 484,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in NorthWestern by 69.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,241,000 after buying an additional 471,125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Stock Up 0.2%

NorthWestern stock opened at $71.93 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.35. NorthWestern Corporation has a 52 week low of $50.46 and a 52 week high of $75.18. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.88. 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 (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.02. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.The firm had revenue of $516.60 million for the quarter. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays increased their price target on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of NorthWestern in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NorthWestern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.30.

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.