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

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $475.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $471.60 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 7.23%. The company’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. NorthWestern Energy Group updated its FY24 guidance to $3.42-3.62 EPS.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE NWE traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $49.55. 437,360 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 395,217. NorthWestern Energy Group has a 1 year low of $45.97 and a 1 year high of $60.56. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $49.29 and its 200-day moving average is $49.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.42 and a beta of 0.43.

NorthWestern Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from NorthWestern Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on NWE shares. Guggenheim raised shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised NorthWestern Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.