Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $875,000 in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 17,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $875,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NWE. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 133.8% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 7,664 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY grew its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. Accurate Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 116,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after acquiring an additional 17,456 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in NorthWestern Energy Group by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE NWE opened at $49.91 on Friday. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.97 and a 52 week high of $60.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 0.43.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $356.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $443.27 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 13.64%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.21%. This is an increase from NorthWestern Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NWE shares. StockNews.com raised shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Guggenheim upgraded NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NorthWestern Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.71.

NorthWestern Energy Group 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.