Systematic Financial Management LP Sells 17,227 Shares of NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Systematic Financial Management LP reduced its holdings in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,159,753 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,227 shares during the period. NorthWestern comprises 1.8% of Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $74,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in NorthWestern by 0.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,968,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,002,000 after purchasing an additional 16,602 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in NorthWestern by 0.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,594,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,530 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in NorthWestern by 0.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,338,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,436,000 after purchasing an additional 4,261 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 65.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,222,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,708,000 after acquiring an additional 484,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 69.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,241,000 after acquiring an additional 471,125 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NWE. Barclays raised their target price on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $54.00 target price on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.30.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

NASDAQ NWE opened at $71.93 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 26.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.88. NorthWestern Corporation has a 1-year low of $50.46 and a 1-year high of $75.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.02. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.The firm had revenue of $516.60 million for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.53%.

About NorthWestern

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.