NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) Stock Rated "Moderate Buy" by Wall Street Analysts

Key Points

• NorthWestern received a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from six analysts, split evenly between buy and hold recommendations. The average 12-month price target is $72.70, compared with the stock’s opening price of $68.84.
• Institutional investors own approximately 96.07% of NorthWestern’s shares, with several hedge funds increasing their positions during the second quarter.
• NorthWestern exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $0.50 in EPS and $392.6 million in revenue. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.67, representing a 3.9% yield and a 96.75% payout ratio.

Shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.70.

NWE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered NorthWestern from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in NorthWestern by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 18,366 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,315,000 after buying an additional 996 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in NorthWestern by 26.8% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 277,545 shares of the company's stock worth $19,878,000 after buying an additional 58,577 shares during the period. Compass Financial Management LLC purchased a new position in NorthWestern during the second quarter worth $137,000. AlphaGrep UK Ltd bought a new position in NorthWestern during the second quarter valued at $368,000. Finally, NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,497 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company's stock.

NorthWestern Price Performance

NASDAQ NWE opened at $68.84 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.34. NorthWestern has a one year low of $56.62 and a one year high of $75.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $70.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.22.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $392.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 8.03%. NorthWestern's quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that NorthWestern will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. NorthWestern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.75%.

NorthWestern Company Profile

NorthWestern Corporation, doing business as NorthWestern Energy, is a regulated electric and natural gas utility serving customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. The company provides essential energy services to residential, commercial, industrial and governmental customers across its service territories.

NorthWestern Energy's operations include electricity generation, transmission and distribution, as well as natural gas transmission, storage and distribution. Its generation portfolio includes a mix of owned facilities and purchased power, with resources that include hydroelectric, coal, natural gas and renewable energy.

The company traces its roots to 1923 and is headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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