Martingale Asset Management L P Increases Stake in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

Martingale Asset Management L P increased its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) by 5.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 46,441 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,460 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P owned about 0.08% of NorthWestern Energy Group worth $2,657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,368,000 after acquiring an additional 7,629 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 17.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 759,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,476,000 after buying an additional 110,461 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 38.3% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 2,125 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 848,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,539,000 after buying an additional 19,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $703,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NWE. Bank of America initiated coverage on NorthWestern Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.00.

NorthWestern Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NWE opened at $55.24 on Friday. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $46.15 and a one year high of $57.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.45.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $345.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.71%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.08%.

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.