Essex Financial Services Inc. Increases Stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 41.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,393 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ED. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Consolidated Edison by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Consolidated Edison during the second quarter worth about $216,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 7.7% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 93,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,338,000 after purchasing an additional 6,648 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 39.6% in the 2nd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 24,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,234,000 after acquiring an additional 7,092 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 397,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,529,000 after purchasing an additional 5,048 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Consolidated Edison Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE ED opened at $101.56 on Tuesday. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-month high of $105.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $96.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $35.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.34.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 12.03% and a return on equity of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ED has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Consolidated Edison to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.65.

Consolidated Edison Profile

Consolidated Edison, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery businesses in the United States. It offers electric services to approximately 3.7 million customers in New York City and Westchester County; gas to approximately 1.1 million customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens, and Westchester County; and steam to approximately 1,530 customers in parts of Manhattan.