At a glance
Northwest Bancshares Inc is worth $2.23B, about 17 times its fiscal 2025 earnings. Revenue grew 25.3% to $654.7M in fiscal 2025, with 19.2% kept as profit; over 5 years it has grown 4.6% a year. It pays a 5.26% dividend yield, and returned $539.0M to shareholders in dividends and buybacks over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned +34.0% over the past year with dividends reinvested and +8.4% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 35.6% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 16.9% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 11 months and 2 months after the lows.
The business in plain English
Northwest Bancshares is the parent company of Northwest Bank, a community savings bank based in Warren, Pennsylvania, whose roots go back to 1896. The parent's executive offices are in Columbus, Ohio. The bank serves individuals and businesses with deposit accounts, home mortgages, auto and other consumer loans, commercial real estate and business loans, and investment management and trust services.
Most of its money comes from the gap between what it earns on loans and securities and what it pays on deposits and borrowings. This gap is called net interest income. In 2025 it was $525 million of $655 million in total revenue. The other $129 million was noninterest income, such as fees. Its biggest costs are staff pay and interest on deposits. To limit interest rate risk, it sells many long-term fixed-rate mortgages to other investors. It has also been growing commercial lending, which tends to have shorter terms.
Its branch network shows where it does business. As of December 31, 2025, it had 161 locations: 102 in Pennsylvania, 28 in western New York, 20 in Indiana and 11 in northeastern Ohio. Its purchase of Penns Woods Bancorp on July 25, 2025 added $1.8 billion of loans and $1.6 billion of deposits. As of June 30, 2026, it held $13.1 billion of loans and $14.2 billion of deposits.
Price history
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NWBI +34.0% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
Latest results
- In Q2 FY2026 (ended Jun 30, 2026), revenue was $181.2M, up 20.5% from a year earlier, and net income was $53.5M (+59.0%).
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $654.7M (+25.3% year over year; +4.6% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 19.2% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | +4.6% watch |
|---|---|
| Return on equity | 6.7% weak |
| Net income / revenue | 19.2% watch |
| Deposits | $14.16B |
| Loans | $13.08B |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $524.0M | $74.9M | — |
| FY2021 | $534.2M | $154.3M | — |
| FY2022 | $531.5M | $133.7M | — |
| FY2023 | $549.5M | $135.0M | — |
| FY2024 | $522.6M | $100.3M | — |
| FY2025 | $654.7M | $126.0M | — |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $2.23B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 16.5 |
| Dividend yield | 5.26% |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
Northwest Bancshares’s market value went from $1.83B at the end of 2016 to $2.23B on Oct 28, 2026, up 22%; since the end of 2025 it is up 27%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | $2.23B | +27.1% |
| 2025 | $1.75B | +4.3% |
| 2024 | $1.68B | +5.9% |
| 2023 | $1.59B | -10.6% |
| 2022 | $1.78B | -0.9% |
| 2021 | $1.79B | +10.1% |
| 2020 | $1.63B | -8.2% |
| 2019 | $1.77B | +1.4% |
| 2018 | $1.75B | +1.9% |
| 2017 | $1.72B | -6.0% |
| 2016 | $1.83B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWBI price data to Oct 28, 2026 | +32.3% | +34.0% | +20.9% | +8.4% | +5.5% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | +32.3% |
| 2025 | -2.8% |
| 2024 | +12.6% |
| 2023 | -4.4% |
| 2022 | +4.6% |
| 2021 | +17.8% |
| 2020 | -18.0% |
| 2019 | +2.4% |
| 2018 | +5.4% |
| 2017 | -3.5% |
| 2016 | +40.6% |
| 2015 | +11.7% |
| 2014 | -4.6% |
| 2013 | +25.2% |
| 2012 | +2.6% |
| 2011 | +9.4% |
| 2010 | +8.1% |
| 2009 | +23.2% |
| 2008 | -18.3% |
| 2007 | -1.9% |
| 2006 | +30.8% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Lost 52.7% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 54%, back to its old high 13.4 months after the low |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 35.1% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 35.6%, back to its old high 11.4 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Gained 1.1% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 16.9%, back to its old high 1.8 months after the low |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-10-31 to 2026-10-31 (25 read): 5 open-market purchases ($255K) and 1 sales ($209K).
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | James M Colestro Chief Retail Lending Officer | sell | $209K |
| May 27, 2026 | Timothy M Hunter Director | buy | $140K |
| Apr 30, 2026 | Gregory J. Betchkal Chief Risk Officer | buy | $70K |
| May 1, 2026 | Douglas M Schosser Chief Financial Officer | buy | $21K |
| Aug 20, 2026 | Charles E. Kranich Director | buy | $19K |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| STATE STREET CORPORATION | 7.4% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | 6.12% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Vanguard Capital Management | 5.19% | Mar 31, 2026 |
ETFs with the most weight in NWBI
| KBWD Invesco KBW High Dividend Yield Financial ETF | 1.67% |
| WDIV SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF | 0.82% |
| XSLV Invesco S&P SmallCap Low Volatility ETF | 0.7% |
| XSVM Invesco S&P SmallCap Value with Momentum ETF | 0.7% |
| SVAL iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF | 0.48% |
| PSCF Invesco S&P SmallCap Financials ETF | 0.45% |
| HEJD VictoryShares Hedged Equity Income ETF | 0.44% |
| FYT First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund | 0.39% |
What could go wrong
- Heavy concentration in real estate loans. Loans covered by regulators' commercial real estate guidance equaled 342% of bank capital as of December 31, 2025, above the 300% threshold. Regulators could require costlier controls or curb this lending, hurting profit.
- Growing commercial loan book carries more risk. Business and commercial property loans are larger and depend on the borrower's business cash flow, so one bad relationship can cause outsized losses. It set aside $56 million for expected loan losses in 2025.
- Shrinking populations in core markets. Its Pennsylvania market, home to 102 of 161 branches, lost 1.9% of its population from 2020 to 2025. Western New York lost 1.2%. A weaker local economy could cut loan demand and raise defaults.
- Penns Woods integration and goodwill write-downs. Buying Penns Woods in July 2025 created $63 million of goodwill, the price paid above asset values. Rocky integration or weak results could force write-downs that cut earnings. Deals paid in stock dilute existing shareholders.
- Losing deposits or paying more for them. Banks, credit unions, brokerages and online rivals compete for deposits, its main source of funding. Losing its government banking deposits in a short time could strain its cash position and earnings, and replacing them may cost more.
- Interest rate swings can squeeze profit. Most revenue is net interest income: what it earns on loans minus what it pays depositors. Rising rates can lift deposit costs faster than loan income and reduce the value of its bond holdings.
Recent events
- Quarterly results released
- Investor presentation or announcement
- Quarterly results released
- Executive or board change
- Executive or board change; Shareholder vote results
- Quarterly results released
- Quarterly results released
For income and retirement investors
Northwest Bancshares pays a high dividend that has barely grown. Dividends per share rose from $0.76 in 2020 to $0.80, where they stayed from 2022 through 2025, so there is no streak of annual increases. The dividend yield (yearly dividends divided by share price) was 5.26% as of October 28, 2026. Dividends took 87.2% of 2025 earnings and were larger than earnings per share in 2020 and 2024, leaving little cushion. Buybacks totaled only about $24 million from 2021 through 2025. Meanwhile the share count rose 15.7% from October 2021 to July 2026, partly from stock issued for Penns Woods.
In past downturns the stock fell hard. It lost 54% in the 2008 financial crisis and recovered by April 2010. It fell 35.6% in the 2020 COVID crash and recovered in about 11 months. In 2022 it fell 16.9% and recovered in about two months. A single bank stock carries more risk than a diversified fund.
Questions investors ask
How does Northwest Bancshares make money?
Mostly by lending. Northwest Bank takes in deposits and lends the money out as home mortgages, auto and other consumer loans, and commercial real estate and business loans. The difference between the interest it earns and the interest it pays is called net interest income. In 2025 that came to $525 million of $655 million in total revenue. The remaining $129 million was noninterest income, which includes fees from services such as investment management and trust.
Does Northwest Bancshares raise its dividend every year?
No. The regular dividend was $0.80 per share in each year from 2022 through 2025, and the company has no streak of annual increases. From 2020 to 2025, dividends per share grew about 1% a year, from $0.76 to $0.80. The yield was 5.26% as of October 28, 2026. The stock has offered high starting income but little growth in that income.
Is Northwest Bancshares' dividend covered by its earnings?
Only narrowly. In 2025 Northwest earned $0.92 a share and paid $0.80 in dividends, so 87.2% of profit went out as dividends. In 2020 and 2024, dividends were larger than earnings per share. The annual report also warns that tougher capital rules could limit its ability to pay dividends. Profit improved in the quarter ended June 30, 2026, when net income rose 59% from a year earlier to $53.5 million.
What did Northwest Bancshares get from buying Penns Woods Bancorp?
About $2.2 billion of assets, including $1.8 billion of loans and $1.6 billion of deposits, after accounting adjustments. The deal closed on July 25, 2025. Penns Woods shareholders received 2.385 Northwest shares for each share they owned. Its two banks, Luzerne Bank and Jersey Shore State Bank, merged into Northwest Bank. Revenue rose 25.3% in 2025, partly because of the deal. Paying in stock also added to the share count.
How has Northwest Bancshares stock performed?
Well over the past year, more modestly over the long run. As of October 28, 2026, the stock returned 34% over one year, 8.4% a year over five years and 5.5% a year over ten years. Its year-to-date gain was 32.3%. It has had weak years too, losing 18% in 2020 and 2.8% in 2025. On October 28, 2026, the shares traded at 16.5 times 2025 earnings.