Fifth Third Bancorp Acquires 67,350 Shares of NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 11,652.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,928 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 67,350 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $4,479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the first quarter worth $5,708,000. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in NorthWestern in the first quarter valued at $220,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in NorthWestern by 13.5% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 154,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,957,000 after acquiring an additional 18,454 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in NorthWestern during the 2nd quarter worth about $230,000. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its holdings in NorthWestern by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 23,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 3,775 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Barclays increased their price target on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.10.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

Shares of NWE stock opened at $72.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.36. NorthWestern Corporation has a 12 month low of $51.92 and a 12 month high of $75.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.34.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last posted its 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. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.The company had revenue of $516.60 million for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.53%.

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.