Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Stock Holdings in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 36.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 176,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 47,394 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $15,750,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Consolidated Edison in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Consolidated Edison in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, CGC Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ED shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI downgraded Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.10.

Consolidated Edison Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ED opened at $99.66 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.95. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.85 and a 52 week high of $107.75. The company has a market cap of $34.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The business had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.89%.

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.