NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Issues Earnings Results

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.08, Zacks reports. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.

NorthWestern Price Performance

NWE stock traded down $1.68 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.61. 398,666 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 527,254. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $71.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.34. NorthWestern has a fifty-two week low of $52.19 and a fifty-two week high of $75.18.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,637,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,238,000 after purchasing an additional 14,751 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of NorthWestern by 0.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,338,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,436,000 after purchasing an additional 4,261 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 65.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,222,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,708,000 after purchasing an additional 484,266 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 69.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,017,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,664,000 after buying an additional 7,056 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their price target on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $75.50 in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.10.

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.