NorthWestern Corporation $NWE Stock Holdings Lowered by Heartland Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its NorthWestern stake by 22.9% in the first quarter, selling 15,940 shares and leaving it with 53,687 shares valued at about $3.54 million.
• Analyst sentiment on NorthWestern is mixed but improving, with several firms raising price targets; the current consensus rating is Hold with a consensus target price of $70.10.
• NorthWestern recently reported better-than-expected earnings of $1.31 per share and revenue of $516.6 million, while also paying a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, equal to a 3.7% annual yield.

Heartland Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE - Free Report) by 22.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,687 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,940 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of NorthWestern worth $3,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 263.3% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 436 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 3,221.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 465 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 142.0% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 455 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of NorthWestern in the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 34.3% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 845 shares of the company's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

NorthWestern Stock Performance

Shares of NWE stock opened at $72.06 on Monday. NorthWestern Corporation has a 1-year low of $51.92 and a 1-year high of $75.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.34. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $70.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.39.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.The firm had revenue of $516.60 million during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

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

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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