NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Given New $73.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan lowered NorthWestern’s price target from $76 to $73 while maintaining a “neutral” rating, implying approximately 3.25% upside from the stock’s $70.70 price.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with three Buy ratings and three Hold ratings producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $72.70.
• NorthWestern exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.50 in earnings per share versus the $0.42 consensus and $392.6 million in revenue, up 14.6% year over year. Institutional investors own approximately 96.07% of the company’s shares.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE - Get Free Report) had its target price decreased by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $76.00 to $73.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price target would suggest a potential upside of 3.25% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on NWE. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NorthWestern from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Three 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.com, NorthWestern has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.70.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWE traded down $1.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $70.70. 119,839 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 499,303. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.28. 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 has a 52 week low of $55.50 and a 52 week high of $75.18.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $392.60 million during 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NorthWestern will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NorthWestern

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted 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 during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 6,589.9% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,037,679 shares of the company's stock valued at $360,799,000 after purchasing an additional 4,962,376 shares during the period. Compass Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NorthWestern in the second quarter valued at approximately $137,000. AlphaGrep UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the second quarter valued at approximately $368,000. Finally, NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 10.0% during the second quarter. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd now owns 27,497 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,969,000 after buying an additional 2,497 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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