Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its stake in NorthWestern by 69.3% in the first quarter, buying 92,134 additional shares to bring its holding to 225,164 shares worth about $14.85 million.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted positions, and overall 96.07% of NorthWestern’s stock is held by institutions, showing heavy institutional ownership.
• NorthWestern reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $1.31 per share and revenue growth of 6.6% year over year, while analysts currently rate the stock Hold with a consensus target price of $70.10.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE - Free Report) by 69.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 225,164 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 92,134 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.37% of NorthWestern worth $14,847,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 11,652.2% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 67,928 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,479,000 after acquiring an additional 67,350 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in NorthWestern by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,610 shares of the company's stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in NorthWestern by 63.0% in the 1st quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,369 shares of the company's stock worth $486,000 after purchasing an additional 2,848 shares in the last quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co grew its position in NorthWestern by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co now owns 40,655 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,681,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NorthWestern during the 1st quarter valued at about $252,000. 96.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. 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 research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NorthWestern from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $54.00 target price on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded NorthWestern to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Three investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $70.10.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWE opened at $72.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.34. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $71.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.60. NorthWestern Corporation has a one year low of $51.92 and a one year high of $75.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.70.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. NorthWestern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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