JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has Lowered Expectations for NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Stock Price

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $76.00 to $73.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 3.25% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also commented on NWE. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of NorthWestern from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NorthWestern has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.70.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

Shares of NWE traded down $1.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $70.70. 119,839 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 499,303. NorthWestern has a twelve month low of $55.50 and a twelve month high of $75.18. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.34.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $392.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.22 million. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Analysts predict that NorthWestern will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 6,589.9% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,037,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,799,000 after purchasing an additional 4,962,376 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position 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 buying an additional 14,751 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,436,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,728,000 after acquiring an additional 98,472 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in NorthWestern by 65.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,222,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,708,000 after acquiring an additional 484,266 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NorthWestern by 69.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,241,000 after acquiring an additional 471,125 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NorthWestern Company 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.