657,262 Shares in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE Purchased by Caxton Associates LLP

Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 657,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,340,000. NorthWestern accounts for about 1.0% of Caxton Associates LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Caxton Associates LLP owned approximately 1.07% of NorthWestern at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NWE. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of NorthWestern by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,637,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,238,000 after purchasing an additional 14,751 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in NorthWestern by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,436,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,728,000 after buying an additional 98,472 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of NorthWestern by 65.6% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,222,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,708,000 after acquiring an additional 484,266 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 69.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,241,000 after acquiring an additional 471,125 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,023,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,472,000 after acquiring an additional 5,815 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWE opened at $72.55 on Friday. NorthWestern Corporation has a 52 week low of $51.92 and a 52 week high of $75.18. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.60. 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 company has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.34.

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

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NWE shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen raised NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $54.00 price objective on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.10.

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.