StockNews.com Upgrades NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) to “Buy”

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

NWE has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a buy rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $54.88.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NWE opened at $57.27 on Wednesday. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 1 year low of $45.97 and a 1 year high of $57.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.66.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.05. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 14.21%. The company had revenue of $319.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.54%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Britt E. Ide sold 688 shares of the business’s 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 $559,593.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern Energy Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NWE. Norges Bank bought a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth $34,257,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,780,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,049,000 after purchasing an additional 187,619 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $6,550,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 36.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 396,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,840,000 after purchasing an additional 105,845 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 429.0% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 105,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,353,000 after purchasing an additional 85,235 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.