NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Price Target Raised to $67.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) had its target price boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

NWE has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $75.50 in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $54.00 target price on shares of NorthWestern in a research note on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.30.

NorthWestern Price Performance

NorthWestern stock opened at $70.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.98, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.32. NorthWestern has a one year low of $50.46 and a one year high of $75.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $68.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.21.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $414.26 million for the quarter. NorthWestern had a net margin of 11.24% and a return on equity of 7.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NorthWestern will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.16%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NWE. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in NorthWestern by 5,851.3% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,005,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,920,000 after purchasing an additional 988,984 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern by 1,214.4% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 920,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,413,000 after buying an additional 850,517 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of NorthWestern in the 4th quarter worth $52,439,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the 4th quarter valued at $50,274,000. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of NorthWestern by 479.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 707,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,683,000 after buying an additional 585,768 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NorthWestern Company Profile

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ: NWE) is a regulated energy company that delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its Electric Operations and Gas Operations segments, the company operates an extensive network of distribution lines, substations and pipelines. NorthWestern’s services encompass the delivery of power sourced from regional transmission systems and the procurement, storage and distribution of natural gas to end users.

Electric delivery services include the management of distribution infrastructure, customer metering and system reliability programs.