Commerce Bank Acquires 587 Shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

Commerce Bank increased its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) by 6.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,900 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group were worth $566,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the third quarter worth $26,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth $45,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 140.2% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 992 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 142.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NorthWestern Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.00.

NorthWestern Energy Group Price Performance

NWE stock opened at $54.48 on Wednesday. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.15 and a 52 week high of $57.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.05). NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 15.15% and a return on equity of 7.95%. The business had revenue of $345.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $344.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. Analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.08%.

About NorthWestern Energy Group

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.