ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 149,578 Shares of NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its holdings in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 18.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 645,335 shares of the company’s stock after selling 149,578 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 1.05% of NorthWestern worth $41,650,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in NorthWestern by 263.3% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 436 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its position 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its position in NorthWestern by 1,220.0% during the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the period. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new position in NorthWestern during the third quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in NorthWestern by 34.3% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 845 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 price target on shares of NorthWestern in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays boosted 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. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.30.

NorthWestern Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NorthWestern stock opened at $70.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $69.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.68. NorthWestern Corporation has a 52-week low of $50.46 and a 52-week high of $75.18.

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

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern’s dividend 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.