Squarepoint Ops LLC Has $19.88 Million Stake in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE - Free Report) by 26.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 277,545 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 58,577 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned 0.45% of NorthWestern worth $19,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NWE. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in NorthWestern by 6,589.9% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,037,679 shares of the company's stock worth $360,799,000 after purchasing an additional 4,962,376 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 5,851.3% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,005,886 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,920,000 after purchasing an additional 988,984 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of NorthWestern by 1,214.4% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 920,554 shares of the company's stock worth $59,413,000 after buying an additional 850,517 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,439,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,274,000. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on NWE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on 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 note on Thursday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, NorthWestern has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.70.

NorthWestern Stock Down 1.7%

NASDAQ:NWE opened at $70.57 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.30. NorthWestern Corporation has a 52-week low of $55.50 and a 52-week high of $75.18. The company has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.83.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $392.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The company's revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. NorthWestern's payout ratio is 96.75%.

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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