Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Reduces Position in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 196,038 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,000 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $12,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in NorthWestern by 263.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 436 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in NorthWestern by 3,221.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 465 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in NorthWestern by 142.0% during the 4th 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. Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its stake in NorthWestern by 1,220.0% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new position in NorthWestern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

NASDAQ NWE opened at $69.85 on Tuesday. NorthWestern Corporation has a 1-year low of $50.46 and a 1-year high of $75.18. The company has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.02. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.The firm had revenue of $516.60 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. 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 raised NorthWestern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $75.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen raised NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NorthWestern in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NorthWestern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.30.

NorthWestern Company Profile

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.