NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Hits New 1-Year High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• NorthWestern shares jumped 7.3%, reaching a new 52-week high of $76.00 before closing at $73.97, compared with the previous close of $68.92.
• Analyst views remain generally positive, with the stock carrying a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $71.70, despite several recent target-price reductions.
• The utility exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $0.50 versus $0.42 expected and revenue of $392.6 million, while paying a $0.67 quarterly dividend that equates to a 3.6% annualized yield.

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $76.00 and last traded at $73.97, with a volume of 1793416 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $68.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their price target on NorthWestern from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings lowered NorthWestern from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $71.70.

NorthWestern Stock Up 7.3%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $69.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a PE ratio of 26.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.30.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 10.13%.The company had revenue of $392.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $386.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. NorthWestern's payout ratio is 96.75%.

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 18,366 shares of the company's stock worth $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 26.8% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 277,545 shares of the company's stock worth $19,878,000 after purchasing an additional 58,577 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Management LLC acquired a new position in NorthWestern during the second quarter worth $137,000. AlphaGrep UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of NorthWestern during the second quarter worth $368,000. Finally, NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd boosted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 10.0% during the second quarter. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd now owns 27,497 shares of the company's stock worth $1,969,000 after buying an additional 2,497 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company's stock.

About NorthWestern

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc, doing business as NorthWestern Energy, is an energy utility that provides electricity and natural gas services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company's operations include the generation, purchase, transmission, and distribution of electricity, as well as the distribution and supply of natural gas.

NorthWestern Energy serves customers primarily in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Its electric generation portfolio includes a combination of company-owned facilities and purchased power from sources such as hydroelectric, coal, natural gas, and renewable energy.

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