First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Invests $251,000 in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. acquired a new stake in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 4,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NorthWestern Energy Group in the 1st quarter worth about $6,550,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 36.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 396,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,840,000 after acquiring an additional 105,845 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 429.0% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 105,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,353,000 after purchasing an additional 85,235 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,027,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,467,000 after purchasing an additional 61,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group during the first quarter worth approximately $2,862,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on NWE shares. StockNews.com cut shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho boosted their price target on NorthWestern Energy Group from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NorthWestern Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Britt E. Ide sold 688 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total transaction of $35,720.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,778 shares in the company, valued at $559,593.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NorthWestern Energy Group Price Performance

NWE stock opened at $53.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.45. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.15 and a 1 year high of $57.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.77.

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

NorthWestern Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.08%.

NorthWestern Energy Group Company Profile

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.