Wells Fargo & Company Boosts NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Price Target to $61.00

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on NWE. 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 objective for the company. StockNews.com cut NorthWestern Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho boosted their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NorthWestern Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.29.

NorthWestern Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NWE opened at $56.47 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a PE ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s fifty day moving average is $55.06 and its 200 day moving average is $52.33. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 52 week low of $46.15 and a 52 week high of $57.48.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $319.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.40 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 14.21%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is 75.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Britt E. Ide sold 688 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total value of $35,720.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $559,593.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern Energy Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,780,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,049,000 after buying an additional 187,619 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the 1st quarter worth $6,550,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 36.4% in 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 last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 429.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 105,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,353,000 after purchasing an additional 85,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,027,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,467,000 after buying an additional 61,216 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.