NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Price Target Raised to $70.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) had its target price hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on NWE. Weiss Ratings raised NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.30.

NorthWestern Trading Down 1.4%

NWE stock opened at $68.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.80. NorthWestern has a 52 week low of $52.24 and a 52 week high of $75.18.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $392.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 10.13%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that NorthWestern will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. NorthWestern’s payout ratio is presently 96.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NorthWestern

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in NorthWestern by 5,851.3% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,005,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,920,000 after buying an additional 988,984 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in NorthWestern by 1,214.4% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 920,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,413,000 after buying an additional 850,517 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the fourth quarter valued at about $52,439,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the fourth quarter valued at about $50,274,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the first quarter worth about $43,340,000. 96.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.