Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Holdings in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 93,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,648 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $8,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ED. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Consolidated Edison by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 418,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,897,000 after buying an additional 12,953 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 175,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,725 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its position in Consolidated Edison by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 488,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,437,000 after purchasing an additional 62,519 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in Consolidated Edison by 2,486.2% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 21,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 20,934 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Consolidated Edison by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 47,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,318,000 after purchasing an additional 12,307 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ED has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Consolidated Edison presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.65.

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

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

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is currently 63.72%.

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.