River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 1,027,523 Shares of NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

River Road Asset Management LLC reduced its position in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 44.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,263,967 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,027,523 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $81,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 263.3% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 3,221.4% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 465 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 142.0% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 455 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 1,220.0% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new position in NorthWestern during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ NWE opened at $69.88 on Friday. NorthWestern Corporation has a twelve month low of $50.54 and a twelve month high of $75.18. The firm has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 25.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.52. 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 results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $516.60 million for the quarter. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.NorthWestern’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. Analysts expect that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NorthWestern in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.30.

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.