VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. Grows Stock Holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,540 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 922 shares during the period. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC.’s holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group were worth $628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 9.7% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 87,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,368,000 after buying an additional 7,717 shares during the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 61,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641 shares during the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $912,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 849,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,521,000 after purchasing an additional 12,091 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NorthWestern Energy Group

In related news, Director Britt E. Ide sold 688 shares of NorthWestern Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total value of $35,720.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $559,593.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

NWE traded up $0.74 during trading on Friday, reaching $54.39. 240,943 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 325,895. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 0.45. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.97 and a 1 year high of $55.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.78%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is 80.50%.

NorthWestern Energy Group 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.