NorthWestern Corporation (NYSE:NWE) - Research analysts at Williams Capital dropped their Q1 2018 earnings estimates for NorthWestern Corporation in a report issued on Thursday. Williams Capital analyst C. Ellinghaus now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $1.18 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $1.21. Williams Capital has a “Sell” rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. Williams Capital also issued estimates for NorthWestern Corporation’s Q2 2018 earnings at $0.49 EPS, Q3 2018 earnings at $0.76 EPS, FY2018 earnings at $3.50 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $3.60 EPS.
NorthWestern Corporation (NYSE:NWE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.15. NorthWestern Corporation had a net margin of 13.17% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The company had revenue of $283.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $302.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. NorthWestern Corporation’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis.
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Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Zacks Investment Research upgraded NorthWestern Corporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 23rd. BidaskClub upgraded NorthWestern Corporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company. The stock has a consensus rating of “Sell” and a consensus target price of $60.00.
Shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NWE) traded down 0.17% during midday trading on Monday, hitting $58.82. The stock had a trading volume of 409,248 shares. NorthWestern Corporation has a one year low of $53.85 and a one year high of $63.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $60.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.47. The stock has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 0.37.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. NorthWestern Corporation’s payout ratio is currently 60.34%.
In other NorthWestern Corporation news, CEO Robert C. Rowe sold 7,252 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.89, for a total transaction of $441,574.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Patrick R. Corcoran sold 7,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.72, for a total value of $469,584.64. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $831,604.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.33% of the company’s stock.
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in NorthWestern Corporation by 10,516.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,214,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $540,893,000 after buying an additional 9,127,714 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Corporation during the fourth quarter worth $17,903,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern Corporation by 87.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 515,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,259,000 after buying an additional 240,913 shares during the last quarter. Denver Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Corporation during the first quarter worth $12,460,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of NorthWestern Corporation by 6.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,605,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $152,919,000 after buying an additional 167,754 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.61% of the company’s stock.
About NorthWestern Corporation
NorthWestern Corporation, doing business as North-Western Energy, provides electricity and natural gas. The Company’s segments are Electric operations, Natural gas operations and All other. As of December 31, 2016, the Company provided electricity and natural gas to approximately 709,600 customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.
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