William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 11,282 Shares of NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

William Blair Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 325,190 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,282 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $22,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in NorthWestern by 0.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,023,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,472,000 after acquiring an additional 5,815 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in NorthWestern by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 803,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,981,000 after purchasing an additional 36,747 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in NorthWestern in the 1st quarter worth $43,340,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in NorthWestern by 26.8% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 277,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,878,000 after purchasing an additional 58,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 69.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 225,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,847,000 after purchasing an additional 92,134 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NWE shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of NorthWestern from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, October 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on NorthWestern from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.25.

NorthWestern Stock Down 0.8%

NWE stock traded down $0.69 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $84.91. The stock had a trading volume of 979,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,012. The business has a 50-day moving average of $74.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.29. NorthWestern Corporation has a 52-week low of $62.48 and a 52-week high of $86.34.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $427.00 million for the quarter. NorthWestern had a net margin of 9.48% and a return on equity of 7.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.13%.

About NorthWestern

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc., doing business as NorthWestern Energy, is a regulated utility that provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Its operations include generating and purchasing energy, as well as transmitting and distributing power and delivering natural gas. The company serves customers in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Its electric and natural gas operations vary by service area, with utility infrastructure supporting communities across the region.