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

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.30), Briefing.com reports. NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 7.23%. The business had revenue of $475.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $471.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. NorthWestern Energy Group updated its FY24 guidance to $3.42-3.62 EPS.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:NWE traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $50.05. 316,136 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 394,901. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.42 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 52-week low of $45.97 and a 52-week high of $60.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.49.

NorthWestern Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from NorthWestern Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 80.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on NWE shares. Guggenheim upgraded NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.