Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys Shares of 7,504 NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $401,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWE. Accurate Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $205,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 883 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC boosted its position in NorthWestern Energy Group by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 70,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,768,000 after buying an additional 3,161 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in NorthWestern Energy Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $498,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on NWE shares. Guggenheim raised shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NorthWestern Energy Group from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on NorthWestern Energy Group from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NorthWestern Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Britt E. Ide sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.57, for a total value of $37,499.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,270.16. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Anthony Thomas Clark sold 7,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.95, for a total transaction of $384,430.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,816 shares in the company, valued at $873,591.20. The trade was a 30.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.94% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NorthWestern Energy Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NWE stock opened at $54.13 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.99. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.15 and a 1-year high of $57.49. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.05). NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 15.15% and a return on equity of 7.95%. The company had revenue of $345.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $344.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is 70.08%.

About NorthWestern Energy Group

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.