NorthWestern Corporation $NWE Stock Sold by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 17.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,173 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,221 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $2,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in NorthWestern by 4.8% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in NorthWestern by 8.2% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in NorthWestern by 2.1% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 14,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in NorthWestern by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $832,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in NorthWestern by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 121,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,011,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Stock Up 0.6%

NorthWestern stock opened at $77.59 on Friday. NorthWestern Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.57 and a fifty-two week high of $77.93. 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 company has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.08.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $392.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 10.13%. The business’s revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. Equities research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. NorthWestern’s payout ratio is currently 96.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NorthWestern in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings raised NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Barclays decreased their target price on NorthWestern from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NorthWestern currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.92.

About NorthWestern

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc, doing business as NorthWestern Energy, is a regulated electric and natural gas utility headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The company generates, purchases, transmits and distributes electricity, and provides natural gas distribution and related services to residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural customers.

NorthWestern Energy serves customers primarily in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. Its operations include electric generation facilities and transmission and distribution networks, as well as natural gas pipelines and distribution systems.