NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $54.00 target price on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.30.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

Shares of NWE stock opened at $72.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.32. NorthWestern has a 52-week low of $50.46 and a 52-week high of $75.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $68.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.19 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $414.26 million during the quarter. NorthWestern had a net margin of 11.24% and a return on equity of 7.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NorthWestern will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NWE. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NorthWestern in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,708,000. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in shares of NorthWestern in the 1st quarter valued at about $220,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 154,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,957,000 after purchasing an additional 18,454 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of NorthWestern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $230,000. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 23,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 3,775 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

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.