Squarepoint Ops LLC Acquires 58,577 Shares of NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its stake in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 26.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 277,545 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,577 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $19,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in NorthWestern by 263.3% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in NorthWestern by 3,221.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in NorthWestern by 142.0% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of NorthWestern in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NorthWestern by 34.3% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut NorthWestern from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.70.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

Shares of NorthWestern stock opened at $70.57 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.34. NorthWestern Corporation has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $75.18. The company’s fifty day moving average is $71.02 and its 200 day moving average is $70.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. NorthWestern’s payout ratio is currently 96.75%.

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.