Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $973,000 Holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group were worth $973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NWE. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 128.8% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 63,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,223,000 after purchasing an additional 35,628 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 429.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 105,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,353,000 after buying an additional 85,235 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 49.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 30,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after acquiring an additional 10,185 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,862,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $555,000. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NWE. Mizuho boosted their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NorthWestern Energy Group news, Director Britt E. Ide sold 688 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total value of $35,720.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $559,593.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NorthWestern Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NorthWestern Energy Group stock opened at $52.79 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.47. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.15 and a 1-year high of $57.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $55.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.72.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.05). NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 15.15%. The business had revenue of $345.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $344.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.93%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 70.08%.

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.