Wells Fargo raised NorthWestern Energy’s price target to $90 and upgraded its stock rating Monday as the utility pursues a proposed merger with Black Hills.
The bank moved its rating to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised its target from $70.
The proposed deal is a share-for-share, tax-free merger agreement announced in August 2025. Black Hills would issue 0.98 of its shares for each NorthWestern Energy share. The companies set the combined enterprise value at $15.4 billion, based on their closing stock prices on Aug. 18, 2025.
If completed, the merger is projected to bring the companies’ electric and natural gas operations together across eight states, serving about 2.1 million customers. NorthWestern CEO Brian Bird said the added scale could strengthen the utility’s financial resilience.
At announcement, the companies projected completion in late 2026 or early 2027.
