NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday. The company traded as high as $76.68 and last traded at $75.1710, with a volume of 32,362 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.92.

NorthWestern Stock Up 1.2%

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $70.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.97, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.30.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.08. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 10.13%. The business had revenue of $392.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of NorthWestern by 0.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,023,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,815 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 4.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 803,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,981,000 after purchasing an additional 36,747 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in NorthWestern in the first quarter valued at about $43,340,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in NorthWestern by 26.8% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 277,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,878,000 after acquiring an additional 58,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in NorthWestern by 69.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 225,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,847,000 after acquiring an additional 92,134 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Company Profile

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc, doing business as NorthWestern Energy, is an energy utility that provides electricity and natural gas services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company’s operations include the generation, purchase, transmission, and distribution of electricity, as well as the distribution and supply of natural gas.

NorthWestern Energy serves customers primarily in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Its electric generation portfolio includes a combination of company-owned facilities and purchased power from sources such as hydroelectric, coal, natural gas, and renewable energy.