Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $93.81.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $97.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank upped their target price 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Consolidated Edison from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th.

Institutional Trading of Consolidated Edison

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 9.0% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 5,713 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in Consolidated Edison by 52.5% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 145,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,992,000 after buying an additional 50,044 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC purchased a new position in Consolidated Edison during the second quarter valued at $364,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Consolidated Edison in the second quarter worth $4,159,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 8.7% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 95,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,544,000 after acquiring an additional 7,629 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Consolidated Edison Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ED opened at $104.13 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.04. Consolidated Edison has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $105.99. The stock has a market cap of $36.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $101.34 and a 200-day moving average of $95.27.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Consolidated Edison will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.72%.

About Consolidated Edison

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.