First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Position in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP reduced its NorthWestern position by 3.1% in the first quarter, selling 20,329 shares and retaining 629,994 shares valued at approximately $41.5 million. Institutional investors collectively own 96.07% of the company.
• NorthWestern reported quarterly EPS of $1.31, beating estimates of $1.29, while revenue rose 6.6% year over year to $516.6 million. The company maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.67, or $2.68 annually, yielding about 3.7%.
• Analyst views remain mixed, with three Buy, two Hold and one Sell rating; the stock has an average “Hold” rating and a consensus price target of $70.10, below its reported opening price of $72.20.

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 629,994 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,329 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 1.02% of NorthWestern worth $41,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NWE. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of NorthWestern by 479.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 707,822 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,683,000 after purchasing an additional 585,768 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in NorthWestern by 536.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 26,325 shares of the company's stock worth $1,699,000 after buying an additional 22,190 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in NorthWestern by 11,652.2% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 67,928 shares of the company's stock worth $4,479,000 after buying an additional 67,350 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new position in NorthWestern during the fourth quarter worth $720,000. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in NorthWestern during the second quarter worth $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company's stock.

NorthWestern Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NWE opened at $72.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.34. NorthWestern Corporation has a 12-month low of $51.92 and a 12-month high of $75.18. The company's 50-day moving average price is $71.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $516.60 million for the quarter. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.21% and a return on equity of 7.80%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern's dividend payout ratio is currently 98.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of NorthWestern from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NorthWestern from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of NorthWestern in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NorthWestern has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $70.10.

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.

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