Mahvash Yazdi, a director at Northwestern Energy Group (NWE), recently bought 1,000 shares. The buy increased the director’s stake by 7 percent, and came to a total cost of $48,800.
This marks the sole insider activity at the South Dakota-based electric utility company over the past two years. There has also been no activity by major holders over the same timeframe.
Overall, Northwestern insiders own 0.9 percent of shares.
The utility has slid 15 percent over the past year. Rising interest rates have weighed on defensive stocks such as utilities. While Northwestern was able to increase earnings by 25 percent, revenues slid by 16 percent.
On the plus side, shares trade right near their book value, a conservative measure of a company’s value. And Northwestern trades at about 14 times forward earnings.
Action to take: Investors may like shares at current prices or on any drop lower. Besides trading at an attractive valuation right now, shares pay a hefty 5.3 percent dividend at today’s prices. That offers investors both some upside and high current income.
For traders, shares have been range-bound over the past few months and look ready to start trending higher after forming a base.
The June 2024 $50 calls, last going for about $3.00, could see mid-double-digit gains or better on a bounce higher in shares.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.