NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.08 EPS

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.08, Zacks reports. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.21% and a return on equity of 7.80%.

NorthWestern Price Performance

Shares of NorthWestern stock traded down $1.68 on Wednesday, reaching $70.61. The stock had a trading volume of 398,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 527,254. The business’s 50 day moving average is $71.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. NorthWestern has a 1 year low of $52.19 and a 1 year high of $75.18. The company has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.34.

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of NorthWestern in the second quarter worth $230,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its position in NorthWestern by 19.5% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 23,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after buying an additional 3,775 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in NorthWestern in the 3rd quarter worth about $204,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. increased its stake in NorthWestern by 359.6% in the 4th quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on NWE shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research 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 stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.10.

About NorthWestern

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.