NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Lifted to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday.

NWE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp reissued a sector weight rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Guggenheim raised shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a sell rating to a neutral rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $51.71.

NorthWestern Energy Group Price Performance

NorthWestern Energy Group stock opened at $50.13 on Tuesday. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 12 month low of $45.97 and a 12 month high of $60.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.43. The company has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 0.43.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $356.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $443.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from NorthWestern Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NWE. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 138.1% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the third quarter worth about $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 47.2% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 736 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spirit of America Management Corp NY grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 33.3% in the third quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NorthWestern Energy Group Company Profile

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.