NorthWestern Corporation $NWE Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,667,340 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,324 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of NorthWestern worth $430,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its holdings in NorthWestern by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 4,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 16,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after acquiring an additional 2,071 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 518.2% during the fourth quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 824 shares during the period. First Horizon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 120.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of NorthWestern during the fourth quarter valued at $369,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 price target on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NorthWestern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.30.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

NWE stock opened at $71.08 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.03. NorthWestern Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $50.46 and a fifty-two week high of $75.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $516.60 million during the quarter. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.21% and a return on equity of 7.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.53%.

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.