Guggenheim Upgrades NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) to “Buy”

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) was upgraded by analysts at Guggenheim from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on NWE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised NorthWestern Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.50 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho upped their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded NorthWestern Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.42.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE NWE opened at $54.13 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $53.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.95. NorthWestern Energy Group has a twelve month low of $46.15 and a twelve month high of $57.49.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.05). NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 15.15% and a return on equity of 7.95%. The firm had revenue of $345.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $344.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at NorthWestern Energy Group

In other NorthWestern Energy Group news, Director Britt E. Ide sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.57, for a total transaction of $37,499.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,888 shares in the company, valued at $583,270.16. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Thomas Clark sold 7,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.95, for a total value of $384,430.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,816 shares in the company, valued at $873,591.20. The trade was a 30.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NWE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,027,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,467,000 after purchasing an additional 61,216 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 600.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 49,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,479,000 after buying an additional 42,479 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 79.4% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $820,000 after buying an additional 7,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 52,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,636,000 after buying an additional 4,738 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About NorthWestern Energy Group

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.