NorthWestern Co. (NASDAQ:NWE – Get Rating) CEO Robert C. Rowe sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.01, for a total transaction of $216,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 193,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,430,195.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.
NorthWestern Stock Down 1.6 %
NASDAQ NWE traded down $0.88 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $53.55. 411,902 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 387,512. NorthWestern Co. has a 12 month low of $52.71 and a 12 month high of $63.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of 16.57, a PEG ratio of 7.19 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $54.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.12.
NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 27th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. NorthWestern had a net margin of 12.61% and a return on equity of 7.59%. The firm had revenue of $323.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.20 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that NorthWestern Co. will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current year.
NorthWestern Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 15th will be given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 14th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.71%. NorthWestern’s payout ratio is currently 77.30%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NorthWestern in the 2nd quarter worth about $226,000. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 143.9% in the 2nd quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 40,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,410,000 after buying an additional 24,129 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 145.2% in the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 765 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 19.7% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 278,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,418,000 after buying an additional 45,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $61.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 31st. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 19th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 18th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of NorthWestern from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, August 29th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.86.
About NorthWestern
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.