NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.05 EPS

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.05), Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $345.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $344.06 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 7.65%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Up 0.7 %

NWE traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $53.91. 475,888 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 344,471. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 1-year low of $46.15 and a 1-year high of $57.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $55.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is 75.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Mizuho upped their price target 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. Barclays upped 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. StockNews.com cut shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.14.

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.