NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) Receives $73.30 Average Price Target from Analysts

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $72.70.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut NorthWestern from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th.

NorthWestern Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ NWE opened at $70.57 on Thursday. NorthWestern has a 12 month low of $55.50 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $71.02 and a 200-day moving average of $70.30.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $392.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 8.03%. NorthWestern’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that NorthWestern will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio is 96.75%.

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NWE. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 6,589.9% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,037,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,799,000 after acquiring an additional 4,962,376 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,637,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,238,000 after purchasing an additional 14,751 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in NorthWestern by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,436,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,728,000 after buying an additional 98,472 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 65.6% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,222,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,708,000 after buying an additional 484,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 69.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,241,000 after buying an additional 471,125 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

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.