NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $73.92 According to Brokerages

Shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $73.92.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on NorthWestern from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Thursday, October 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th.

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 12.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in NorthWestern by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in NorthWestern by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 18,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after buying an additional 996 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 26.8% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 277,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,878,000 after acquiring an additional 58,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Financial Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NorthWestern during the second quarter worth approximately $137,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NWE stock opened at $77.13 on Friday. NorthWestern has a 12-month low of $58.57 and a 12-month high of $77.46. The company has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $70.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $392.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 10.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that NorthWestern will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.75%.

About NorthWestern

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.