NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. $NWE Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP cut its position in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) by 4.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 913,911 shares of the company’s stock after selling 45,624 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group were worth $46,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NWE. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 334.3% in the second quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 43.6% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd increased its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 800.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in NorthWestern Energy Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $116,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on NorthWestern Energy Group in a report on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $58.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.75.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of NorthWestern Energy Group stock opened at $65.70 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.32. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.43 and a 12 month high of $69.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.00, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.04. NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 74.79%.

NorthWestern Energy Group 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.