NorthWestern Corporation $NWE Position Trimmed by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its holdings in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 37.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,363 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,962 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $1,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,637,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,238,000 after acquiring an additional 14,751 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in NorthWestern by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,436,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,728,000 after purchasing an additional 98,472 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in NorthWestern by 65.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,222,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,708,000 after purchasing an additional 484,266 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in NorthWestern by 69.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,241,000 after purchasing an additional 471,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,017,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,664,000 after purchasing an additional 7,056 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NorthWestern Price Performance

NASDAQ NWE opened at $71.32 on Friday. NorthWestern Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $51.27 and a fifty-two week high of $75.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $70.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.86. The firm has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $516.60 million during the quarter. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.The business’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded 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 report on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $54.00 target price on shares of NorthWestern in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. 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 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.30.

About NorthWestern

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.