Franklin Resources Inc. Has $92.73 Million Position in NorthWestern Corporation $NWE

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,436,750 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,472 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 2.34% of NorthWestern worth $92,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vestcor Inc grew its position in NorthWestern by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 18,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in NorthWestern in the 4th quarter valued at $779,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in NorthWestern by 107.9% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,159 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its holdings in NorthWestern by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 4,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in NorthWestern by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 52,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,383,000 after acquiring an additional 2,271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Price Performance

NASDAQ NWE opened at $69.72 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.41. NorthWestern Corporation has a 52 week low of $50.46 and a 52 week high of $75.18. The company has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a PE ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $516.60 million for the quarter. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 7.80% and a net margin of 10.21%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on NWE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.