Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Increases Holdings in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 81.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,698 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,951 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in NorthWestern by 0.6% during the fourth 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. grew its position in shares of NorthWestern by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,436,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,728,000 after purchasing an additional 98,472 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in NorthWestern by 65.6% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,222,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,708,000 after buying an additional 484,266 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in NorthWestern by 69.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,241,000 after buying an additional 471,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,017,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,664,000 after acquiring an additional 7,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NWE traded up $1.88 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $72.71. 422,675 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 497,184. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.07. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.34. NorthWestern Corporation has a 52-week low of $51.31 and a 52-week high of $75.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

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

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on NWE. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.10.

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.