NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.08, Zacks reports. The business had revenue of $392.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

NorthWestern stock traded down $1.13 on Friday, hitting $68.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 208,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 523,480. The firm has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $71.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.80. NorthWestern has a one year low of $52.24 and a one year high of $75.18.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NWE. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.30.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in NorthWestern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $230,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its holdings in NorthWestern by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 23,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after buying an additional 3,775 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in NorthWestern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. raised its holdings in NorthWestern by 359.6% during the 4th quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,000 after buying an additional 2,269 shares during the period. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in NorthWestern by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

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.