NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) Plans $0.65 Quarterly Dividend

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:NWE) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 29th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of 0.65 per share on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th.

NorthWestern Energy Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 19 years. NorthWestern Energy Group has a dividend payout ratio of 70.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect NorthWestern Energy Group to earn $3.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 70.5%.

NorthWestern Energy Group Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NorthWestern Energy Group stock opened at $50.48 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.51. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 12-month low of $45.97 and a 12-month high of $60.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97 and a beta of 0.43.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.30). NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 7.36%. The company had revenue of $475.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $471.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NWE. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com upgraded 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 target on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.71.

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.