NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Raised to “Buy” at Guggenheim

Guggenheim upgraded shares of NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on NWE. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho boosted their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their price target on NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded NorthWestern Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.42.

NorthWestern Energy Group Trading Up 1.2 %

NWE opened at $53.97 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $53.51 and a 200 day moving average of $53.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 12 month low of $46.15 and a 12 month high of $57.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.48.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $345.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $344.06 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 15.15%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.82%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is 70.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Anthony Thomas Clark sold 7,400 shares of NorthWestern Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.95, for a total transaction of $384,430.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $873,591.20. This trade represents a 30.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Britt E. Ide sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.57, for a total value of $37,499.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,270.16. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern Energy Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,027,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,467,000 after buying an additional 61,216 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 21.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 600.3% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 49,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,479,000 after acquiring an additional 42,479 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 79.4% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $820,000 after purchasing an additional 7,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 9.9% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 52,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,636,000 after purchasing an additional 4,738 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

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.