Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 14,178 Shares of NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 47.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,517 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,178 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $1,023,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NWE. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 879 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Strs Ohio increased its stake in NorthWestern by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 18,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in NorthWestern by 34.3% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 845 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its position in NorthWestern by 3.4% in the third quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 6,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 31.1% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

NASDAQ NWE opened at $68.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $70.94 and a 200-day moving average of $69.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. NorthWestern Corporation has a 1-year low of $53.55 and a 1-year high of $75.18.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $392.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 8.03%. NorthWestern’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. NorthWestern’s payout ratio is presently 96.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered NorthWestern from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays raised their target price on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NorthWestern has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.30.

NorthWestern 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.