Vanguard Group Inc. Has $345.05 Million Holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE - Free Report) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,780,298 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 187,619 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.06% of NorthWestern Energy Group worth $345,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 9.0% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 6,282 shares of the company's stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 17.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 959,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,132,000 after purchasing an additional 145,241 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 6.1% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 8,408 shares of the company's stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 84.6% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 9,294 shares of the company's stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 4,259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in NorthWestern Energy Group by 6.4% during the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 435,800 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,945,000 after purchasing an additional 26,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NorthWestern Energy Group news, VP Bobbi L. Schroeppel sold 1,350 shares of NorthWestern Energy Group stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other NorthWestern Energy Group news, VP Bobbi L. Schroeppel sold 1,350 shares of NorthWestern Energy Group stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John D. Hines sold 1,565 shares of NorthWestern Energy Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.15, for a total value of $80,049.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,677,413.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,602 shares of company stock valued at $183,805 over the last ninety days. 0.94% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on NWE shares. Mizuho increased their price target on NorthWestern Energy Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.86.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

NWE stock traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $50.08. The stock had a trading volume of 668,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 223,500. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 0.45. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.97 and a 52 week high of $58.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

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

NorthWestern Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.19%. NorthWestern Energy Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.50%.

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.