LMR Partners LLP Makes New $256,000 Investment in Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NWBI)

LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NWBI) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 19,129 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWBI. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Northwest Bancshares by 148.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,225,917 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,159,000 after acquiring an additional 732,172 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Northwest Bancshares by 80.8% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 488,161 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,638,000 after acquiring an additional 218,158 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in Northwest Bancshares by 17,247,500.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 172,476 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,308,000 after acquiring an additional 172,475 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Northwest Bancshares by 710.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 144,163 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,665,000 after acquiring an additional 126,384 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Northwest Bancshares by 47.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 156,043 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,088,000 after acquiring an additional 50,395 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.32% of the company’s stock.

Northwest Bancshares Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NWBI opened at $14.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.99 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Northwest Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.45 and a 12-month high of $15.35. The business’s 50 day moving average is $13.57 and its 200 day moving average is $12.65.

Northwest Bancshares (NASDAQ:NWBI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The savings and loans company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.26. The company had revenue of $199.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.80 million. Northwest Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 13.19%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Northwest Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northwest Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.53%. Northwest Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut Northwest Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Northwest Bancshares Company Profile

Northwest Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Northwest Bank, a state-chartered savings bank that provides personal and business banking solutions. The company accepts various deposits, including checking, savings, money market deposit, term certificate, and individual retirement accounts.