NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $67.49 and last traded at $67.4930, with a volume of 107510 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $66.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NWE. Barclays increased their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on NorthWestern Energy Group in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NorthWestern Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.75.

NorthWestern Energy Group Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.50.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.04. NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is 74.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC boosted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 38.0% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,000 after buying an additional 842 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group during the first quarter valued at about $1,822,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 122.4% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 22,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 12,538 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the first quarter worth about $1,170,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.4% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 78,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,534,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. 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.