Brokerages Set NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) PT at $51.71

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.71.

Several research firms have recently commented on NWE. Barclays raised their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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. Finally, Guggenheim raised NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd.

NorthWestern Energy Group Trading Up 2.5 %

NorthWestern Energy Group stock opened at $50.13 on Friday. 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 has a one year low of $45.97 and a one year high of $60.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s fifty day moving average is $49.06 and its 200 day moving average is $49.46.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last posted its earnings results 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. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 13.64%. The company had revenue of $356.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $443.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.19%. This is a boost from NorthWestern Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern Energy Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,852,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,506,000 after purchasing an additional 74,439 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,780,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,049,000 after purchasing an additional 187,619 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 49.9% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,079,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $307,267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690,016 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,816,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,402,000 after purchasing an additional 211,296 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,499,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,167,000 after purchasing an additional 46,229 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

About NorthWestern Energy Group

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.