NorthWestern Corporation $NWE Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Posted by George Bondi on Jul 24th, 2026

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE – Free Report) by 69.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 225,164 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 92,134 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NorthWestern were worth $14,847,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in NorthWestern by 5,851.3% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,005,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,920,000 after buying an additional 988,984 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 1,214.4% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 920,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,413,000 after acquiring an additional 850,517 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of NorthWestern during the 4th quarter worth $52,439,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NorthWestern during the 4th quarter worth $50,274,000. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 479.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 707,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,683,000 after acquiring an additional 585,768 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWE opened at $72.55 on Friday. NorthWestern Corporation has a 12 month low of $51.92 and a 12 month high of $75.18. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.02. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.21% and a return on equity of 7.80%. The company had revenue of $516.60 million for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NorthWestern Corporation will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NorthWestern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on NWE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NorthWestern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $54.00 price objective on shares of NorthWestern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.10.

View Our Latest Stock Report on NWE

About NorthWestern

(Free Report)

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ: NWE) is a regulated energy company that delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its Electric Operations and Gas Operations segments, the company operates an extensive network of distribution lines, substations and pipelines. NorthWestern’s services encompass the delivery of power sourced from regional transmission systems and the procurement, storage and distribution of natural gas to end users.

Electric delivery services include the management of distribution infrastructure, customer metering and system reliability programs.