Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) Raised to Strong-Buy at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on ED. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Guggenheim raised their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.35.

Consolidated Edison Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE ED opened at $98.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.99. Consolidated Edison has a twelve month low of $85.85 and a twelve month high of $107.75. The stock has a market cap of $34.26 billion, a PE ratio of 18.55, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.36.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.12. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 8.75%. The company had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.02 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison will post 5.33 EPS for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Consolidated Edison’s payout ratio is presently 62.52%.

Institutional Trading of Consolidated Edison

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 10,302.6% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 24,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,546,000 after acquiring an additional 24,211 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 57.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 244,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,193,000 after acquiring an additional 89,080 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 153.9% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 245,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,321,000 after acquiring an additional 148,988 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 121.1% during the first quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 113,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,323,000 after acquiring an additional 62,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 17,683.9% during the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 9,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $904,000 after acquiring an additional 9,903 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

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.