ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 149,578 Shares of NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

ProShare Advisors LLC decreased its position in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 645,335 shares of the company’s stock after selling 149,578 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $41,650,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 879 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 19,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 18,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,213,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in NorthWestern by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 845 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC grew its position in NorthWestern by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 6,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 price target on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.30.

NorthWestern Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:NWE opened at $70.97 on Wednesday. NorthWestern Corporation has a 12 month low of $50.46 and a 12 month high of $75.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $69.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.35.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $516.60 million for the quarter. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.53%.

NorthWestern Company Profile

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.