NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.30 EPS

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.30), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $475.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $471.60 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 7.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. NorthWestern Energy Group updated its FY24 guidance to $3.42-3.62 EPS.

NorthWestern Energy Group Trading Down 0.7 %

NWE traded down $0.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $49.55. 438,152 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 247,117. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $49.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97 and a beta of 0.43. NorthWestern Energy Group has a fifty-two week low of $45.97 and a fifty-two week high of $60.56.

NorthWestern Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from NorthWestern Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.25%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target 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 reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim raised 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.71.

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.