NorthWestern Co. (NASDAQ:NWE) Stake Boosted by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern Co. (NASDAQ:NWE – Get Rating) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,397 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 644 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,852,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,506,000 after purchasing an additional 74,439 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,629,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $340,525,000 after purchasing an additional 104,109 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,372,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,601,000 after purchasing an additional 292,859 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,453,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,561,000 after purchasing an additional 59,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,086,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,716,000 after purchasing an additional 15,350 shares during the last quarter. 96.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on NWE. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $64.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NorthWestern to $57.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. Guggenheim lowered shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Monday. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Tuesday, November 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Brian B. Bird sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.51, for a total transaction of $357,068.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 108,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,695,339.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Brian B. Bird sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.51, for a total value of $357,068.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 108,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,695,339.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael R. Cashell sold 1,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.19, for a total transaction of $90,529.38. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 15,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $841,040.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

Shares of NWE opened at $56.80 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $57.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.62, a P/E/G ratio of 9.15 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.56. NorthWestern Co. has a 52 week low of $48.68 and a 52 week high of $63.06.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 24th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $335.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $300.40 million. NorthWestern had a net margin of 11.97% and a return on equity of 6.98%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NorthWestern Co. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

About NorthWestern

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NorthWestern Corporation, doing business as NorthWestern Energy, provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and various industrial customers. The company operates through Electric and Natural Gas segments. 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.