Virtu Financial LLC Has $1.79 Million Stock Holdings in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 531.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,797 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 23,397 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $1,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in NorthWestern by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,968,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,002,000 after acquiring an additional 16,602 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in NorthWestern by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,637,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,238,000 after acquiring an additional 14,751 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in NorthWestern by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,436,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,728,000 after acquiring an additional 98,472 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 65.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,222,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,708,000 after acquiring an additional 484,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 69.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,241,000 after acquiring an additional 471,125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.30.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

NWE stock opened at $69.88 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $70.96 and its 200-day moving average is $68.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.34. NorthWestern Corporation has a twelve month low of $50.54 and a twelve month high of $75.18.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.02. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.The business had revenue of $516.60 million for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.53%.

About NorthWestern

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ: NWE) is a regulated energy company that delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its Electric Operations and Gas Operations segments, the company operates an extensive network of distribution lines, substations and pipelines. NorthWestern’s services encompass the delivery of power sourced from regional transmission systems and the procurement, storage and distribution of natural gas to end users.

Electric delivery services include the management of distribution infrastructure, customer metering and system reliability programs.