NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $62.94 and last traded at $62.6810, with a volume of 62216 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $61.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

NorthWestern Energy Group Trading Up 4.7%

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 business has a 50 day moving average of $58.39 and a 200 day moving average of $55.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.42.

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

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is presently 74.79%.

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern Energy Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,594,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,530 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,577,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,938,000 after purchasing an additional 7,684 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.8% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,334,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,435,000 after purchasing an additional 11,084 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 65.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,222,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,708,000 after buying an additional 484,266 shares during the period. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP raised its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 2.7% in the second quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,145,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,754,000 after buying an additional 30,471 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.