NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Downgraded by StockNews.com

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Guggenheim upgraded NorthWestern Energy Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.25.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Down 0.6 %

NWE stock traded down $0.29 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $50.36. 409,797 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 435,087. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 12 month low of $45.97 and a 12 month high of $61.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.47. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.19. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 13.64%. The company had revenue of $356.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $443.27 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 1.4% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,972,487 shares of the company's stock valued at $509,278,000 after purchasing an additional 120,406 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,780,298 shares of the company's stock worth $345,049,000 after acquiring an additional 187,619 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 49.9% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,079,648 shares of the company's stock worth $307,267,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690,016 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 5.9% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,816,111 shares of the company's stock worth $183,402,000 after acquiring an additional 211,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,499,331 shares of the company's stock worth $123,167,000 after acquiring an additional 46,229 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About NorthWestern Energy Group

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and various industrial customers. It generates, purchases, transmits, and distributes electricity; and produces, purchases, stores, transmits, and distributes natural gas, as well as owns municipal franchises to provide natural gas service in the communities.

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