Xponance Inc. Has $451,000 Stock Holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

Xponance Inc. raised its position in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,863 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 219 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group were worth $451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the third quarter worth $36,513,000. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,168,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,341,000 after purchasing an additional 562,548 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 188.1% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 335,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,080,000 after purchasing an additional 219,145 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 5.9% in the third 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, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the third quarter worth $8,706,000. 96.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of NWE stock opened at $49.55 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $49.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.50. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.97 and a 12 month high of $60.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.30). NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 7.36%. The firm had revenue of $475.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $471.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from NorthWestern Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 80.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.