New York State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) by 0.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 75,178 shares of the company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group were worth $4,302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NorthWestern Energy Group during the first quarter worth about $6,550,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 36.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 396,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,840,000 after buying an additional 105,845 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 valued at $51,467,000 after buying an additional 61,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group during the 1st quarter worth $2,862,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on NWE shares. Barclays raised their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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, Bank of America started coverage on NorthWestern Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NorthWestern Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.14.

NorthWestern Energy Group Price Performance

NorthWestern Energy Group stock opened at $54.59 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $55.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.78. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.15 and a 52-week high of $57.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71, a PEG ratio of 2.53 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 (NYSE:NWE) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $345.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is 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.