NorthWestern (NWE) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc., doing business as NorthWestern Energy, is a regulated electric and natural gas utility headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The company generates, purchases, transmits and distributes electricity, and provides natural gas distribution and related services to residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural customers.

NorthWestern Energy serves customers primarily in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. Its operations include electric generation facilities and transmission and distribution networks, as well as natural gas pipelines and distribution systems. The company’s energy portfolio includes a mix of owned generation and power purchased from other suppliers.

The company traces its history to NorthWestern Corporation, which was established in 1923 and has expanded through utility acquisitions and infrastructure development. NorthWestern Energy Group is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Bird.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $76.53 to $77.93
• 50-Day Range: $67.98 to $77.59
• 52-Week Range: $58.57 to $77.93
• Volume: 558,718 shs
• Average Volume: 582,128 shs
• Market Capitalization: $4.77 billion
• P/E Ratio: 28.01
• Dividend Yield: 3.45%
• Price Target: $73.92
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

NorthWestern Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

NorthWestern scored higher than 66% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 68th out of 98 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

NorthWestern has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.57, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 4 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for NorthWestern is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

NorthWestern has been the subject of 5 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 6.74%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for NorthWestern are expected to grow by 6.74% in the coming year, from $3.71 to $3.96 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of NorthWestern is 28.01, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 40.57.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of NorthWestern is 28.01, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 22.72.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

NorthWestern has a PEG Ratio of 4.01. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

NorthWestern has a P/B Ratio of 1.65. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.23% of the float of NorthWestern has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

NorthWestern has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.6, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in NorthWestern has recently decreased by 1.37%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

NorthWestern pays a meaningful dividend of 3.45%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

NorthWestern has been increasing its dividend for 21 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of NorthWestern is 96.75%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, NorthWestern will have a dividend payout ratio of 67.68% next year. This indicates that NorthWestern will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.77

News Sentiment

NorthWestern has a news sentiment score of 0.77. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.55 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for NorthWestern this week, compared to 2 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

7 people have searched for NWE on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 17% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, NorthWestern insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.57% of the stock of NorthWestern is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

96.07% of the stock of NorthWestern is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 7/29/2026
• Record date for 9/1 Dividend: 8/17/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 9/1 Dividend: 8/17/2026
• Dividend Payable: 9/01/2026
• Today: 10/26/2026
• Next Earnings (Confirmed): 11/04/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: Multi - Utilities
• Sub-Industry: Multi-Utilities
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:NWE
• Previous Symbol: NASDAQ:NWE
• CIK: 1993004
• Web: www.northwesternenergy.com
• Phone: (605) 978-2900
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: 1,667
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for NorthWestern: $73.92
• High Price Target: $85.00
• Low Price Target: $70.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: -4.7%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.57
• Research Coverage: 7 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $2.77
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 28.01
• Forward P/E Ratio: 20.91
• P/E Growth: 4.01
• Net Income: $181.09 million
• Net Margins: 10.13%
• Pretax Margin: 10.44%
• Return on Equity: 8.03%
• Return on Assets: 2.73%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.19
• Current Ratio: 0.83
• Quick Ratio: 0.58

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.61 billion
• Price / Sales: 2.96
• Cash Flow: $7.72 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 10.05
• Book Value: $46.99 per share
• Price / Book: 1.65

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 61,520,000
• Free Float: 61,167,000
• Market Cap: $4.77 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.30