NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Earns Market Perform Rating from Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on NWE. Barclays boosted their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised NorthWestern Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.50 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Guggenheim raised NorthWestern Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.21.

NorthWestern Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NWE stock opened at $55.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $56.79 and its 200 day moving average is $54.84. NorthWestern Energy Group has a twelve month low of $48.52 and a twelve month high of $59.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.04. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 14.81%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Britt E. Ide sold 702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.32, for a total transaction of $38,132.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $598,660.72. This represents a 5.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NWE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,849,519 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,175,000 after acquiring an additional 56,180 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,371,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,803,000 after acquiring an additional 136,922 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.4% in the first quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,114,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,516,000 after acquiring an additional 4,264 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,033,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,248,000 after acquiring an additional 4,544 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 13.2% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,001,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,940,000 after acquiring an additional 117,087 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About NorthWestern Energy Group

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.