Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 17,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,174,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in NorthWestern by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 18,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 34.3% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 3.4% in the third quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 6,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 31.1% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NWE opened at $71.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.34. NorthWestern Corporation has a 52 week low of $51.27 and a 52 week high of $75.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $70.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.86. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.02. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.21% and a return on equity of 7.80%. The company had revenue of $516.60 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NWE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 price target on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.30.

NorthWestern 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.