NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $76.00 and last traded at $73.97, with a volume of 1,793,416 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $68.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on NWE shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.70.

NorthWestern Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.30. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.42.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $392.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 10.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 12.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted 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 worth $180,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 5.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 18,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in NorthWestern by 26.8% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 277,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,878,000 after buying an additional 58,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compass Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the 2nd quarter worth about $137,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Company Profile

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc, doing business as NorthWestern Energy, is an energy utility that provides electricity and natural gas services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company’s operations include the generation, purchase, transmission, and distribution of electricity, as well as the distribution and supply of natural gas.

NorthWestern Energy serves customers primarily in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Its electric generation portfolio includes a combination of company-owned facilities and purchased power from sources such as hydroelectric, coal, natural gas, and renewable energy.