NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Stock Rating Upgraded by Guggenheim

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) was upgraded by research analysts at Guggenheim from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday,Finviz reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.50 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.42.

NorthWestern Energy Group Trading Down 3.1 %

NYSE:NWE opened at $53.35 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $53.55 and its 200 day moving average is $53.92. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 12 month low of $46.15 and a 12 month high of $57.49.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $345.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $344.06 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 15.15%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Anthony Thomas Clark sold 7,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.95, for a total transaction of $384,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,816 shares in the company, valued at $873,591.20. The trade was a 30.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Britt E. Ide sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.57, for a total transaction of $37,499.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $583,270.16. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 6.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,027,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,467,000 after acquiring an additional 61,216 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 21.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 1,281 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 600.3% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 49,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,479,000 after buying an additional 42,479 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 79.4% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $820,000 after buying an additional 7,247 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 9.9% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 52,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,636,000 after buying an additional 4,738 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.