NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) Director Britt E. Ide Sells 687 Shares

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) Director Britt E. Ide sold 687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.30, for a total value of $35,243.10. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $545,832. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

NorthWestern Energy Group Trading Up 0.4 %

NWE opened at $51.18 on Friday. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.97 and a 1-year high of $60.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a PE ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.30). NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The company had revenue of $475.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $471.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 80.50%.

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern Energy Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,780,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,049,000 after buying an additional 187,619 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 5.9% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,816,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,402,000 after purchasing an additional 211,296 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 5.5% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,420,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,342,000 after purchasing an additional 126,439 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,168,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,341,000 after purchasing an additional 562,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,240,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,636,000 after buying an additional 158,805 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Guggenheim raised shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.71.

NorthWestern Energy Group Company Profile

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and various industrial customers. It generates, purchases, transmits, and distributes electricity; and produces, purchases, stores, transmits, and distributes natural gas, as well as owns municipal franchises to provide natural gas service in the communities.