Janus Henderson Group PLC Increases Stock Position in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 29.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 76,104 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,200 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $5,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in NorthWestern by 5,851.3% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,005,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,920,000 after acquiring an additional 988,984 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 1,214.4% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 920,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,413,000 after purchasing an additional 850,517 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of NorthWestern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,439,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in NorthWestern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,274,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in NorthWestern during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,340,000. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on NWE. Barclays boosted their target price on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of NorthWestern from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.30.

NorthWestern Trading Up 1.6%

NorthWestern stock opened at $70.27 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $70.81 and a 200 day moving average of $69.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.34. NorthWestern Corporation has a 12-month low of $54.89 and a 12-month high of $75.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $392.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The company’s revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.75%.

NorthWestern 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.