17,200 Shares in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 17,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $875,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Spirit of America Management Corp NY grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 33.3% in the third quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 32.7% in the third quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 1,233.1% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,373 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 2,195 shares during the last quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in NorthWestern Energy Group in the third quarter valued at $126,000. Finally, Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in NorthWestern Energy Group in the fourth quarter valued at $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on NWE. Guggenheim raised NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.71.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE NWE opened at $49.91 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $49.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.49. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.97 and a twelve month high of $60.56. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $356.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $443.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.53 earnings per share 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 is an increase from NorthWestern Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.21%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 80.75%.

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.