NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Reaches New 12-Month High at $57.48

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) shares reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $57.48 and last traded at $57.40, with a volume of 46677 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $56.82.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWE has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.88.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Up 0.6 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $54.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.46.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $319.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.55%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.50%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern Energy Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NWE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 956,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,658,000 after purchasing an additional 3,849 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,257,000. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $168,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 31,407.7% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 4,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dean Capital Management increased its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 55.2% in the fourth quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 10,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 3,838 shares during 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.