NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $80.21 and last traded at $79.3690, with a volume of 3,594 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $78.45.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on NWE. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of NorthWestern from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings upgraded NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Barclays dropped their target price on NorthWestern from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on NorthWestern in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.25.

NorthWestern Trading Up 0.7%

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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.34.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $392.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The company’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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in NorthWestern by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in NorthWestern by 8.2% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 14,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $978,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 2.4% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its position in NorthWestern by 0.7% during the third quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 51,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,489,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Company Profile

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.