NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $68.30.

A number of research firms have weighed in on NWE. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Barclays raised their price target 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. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $75.50 in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NorthWestern

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NWE. Millennium Management LLC bought a new stake in NorthWestern in the 1st quarter worth about $5,708,000. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in NorthWestern during the 1st quarter valued at about $220,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 154,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,957,000 after acquiring an additional 18,454 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the 2nd quarter valued at about $230,000. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 19.5% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 23,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 3,775 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NorthWestern Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWE opened at $71.93 on Tuesday. NorthWestern 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. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $69.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.01. The company has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 26.44, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.35.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $516.60 million during the quarter. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.NorthWestern’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that NorthWestern will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. NorthWestern’s payout ratio is currently 98.53%.

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.