Foundry Partners LLC Buys 3,245 Shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

Foundry Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) by 60.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,585 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,245 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group were worth $437,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 8,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. now owns 12,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 17,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $818,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spirit of America Management Corp NY lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on NWE shares. StockNews.com upgraded NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Guggenheim upgraded NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.71.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of NWE stock opened at $50.40 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $49.12 and a 200 day moving average of $49.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 0.43. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.97 and a 1 year high of $60.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $356.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $443.27 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 13.64%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.16%. This is a positive change from NorthWestern Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.75%.

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.