Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Grows Stock Holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,506 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,685 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned about 0.08% of NorthWestern Energy Group worth $2,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 138.1% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 499.5% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC lifted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 1,233.1% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 2,195 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Guggenheim raised shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NorthWestern Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NorthWestern Energy Group news, VP Bobbi L. Schroeppel sold 1,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.75, for a total transaction of $68,512.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 31,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,614,560.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other NorthWestern Energy Group news, VP Bobbi L. Schroeppel sold 1,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.75, for a total transaction of $68,512.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 31,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,614,560.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Britt E. Ide sold 687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.30, for a total value of $35,243.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $545,832. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

NorthWestern Energy Group stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $51.18. 8,006 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 383,811. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.97 and a 12 month high of $60.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day moving average of $49.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 0.43.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $475.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $471.60 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 13.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.50%.

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.