NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Given New $76.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) had its price objective lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

NWE has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of NorthWestern in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.10.

NorthWestern Price Performance

Shares of NWE opened at $70.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.04, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $70.85 and a 200-day moving average of $69.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. NorthWestern has a 52 week low of $51.31 and a 52 week high of $75.18.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $516.60 million during the quarter. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.NorthWestern’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that NorthWestern will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.53%.

Institutional Trading of NorthWestern

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NWE. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in NorthWestern by 263.3% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in NorthWestern by 3,221.4% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 465 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in NorthWestern by 142.0% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 455 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of NorthWestern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NorthWestern by 34.3% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

About NorthWestern

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.