Norges Bank Takes Position in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 778,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,274,000. Norges Bank owned 1.27% of NorthWestern as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kintayl Capital LP bought a new position in NorthWestern in the third quarter worth $7,619,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC bought a new position in NorthWestern in the third quarter worth $7,565,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in NorthWestern by 14.5% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 794,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,590,000 after purchasing an additional 100,381 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in NorthWestern by 41.3% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 28,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 1,211.4% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 430,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,223,000 after acquiring an additional 397,544 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

NorthWestern stock opened at $70.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.52. NorthWestern Corporation has a one year low of $50.46 and a one year high of $75.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.34. The business’s fifty day moving average is $70.47 and its 200 day moving average is $68.35.

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

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 price target on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.30.

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.