First Trust Advisors LP Lowers Stock Holdings in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

First Trust Advisors LP cut its position in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 629,994 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,329 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $41,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NWE. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 263.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 436 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in NorthWestern by 3,221.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in NorthWestern by 142.0% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in NorthWestern during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in NorthWestern by 34.3% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 845 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on NWE shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, 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, July 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NorthWestern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.10.

NorthWestern Price Performance

NWE stock opened at $72.20 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $71.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.34. NorthWestern Corporation has a 1 year low of $51.92 and a 1 year high of $75.18.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern’s payout ratio is 98.53%.

NorthWestern Profile

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.