NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on NorthWestern Energy Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on NorthWestern Energy Group from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $52.86.

NorthWestern Energy Group Price Performance

NWE opened at $51.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 12 month low of $45.97 and a 12 month high of $55.47. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.96. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 0.45.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.05. NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 7.65%. The business had revenue of $319.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $310.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.52 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.50%.

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern Energy Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NWE. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 138.1% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group during the first quarter worth about $28,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

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.