Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $105.80.

Several brokerages have commented on ED. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $96.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $94.00 price target on shares of Consolidated Edison and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $103.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd.

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

Shares of Consolidated Edison stock opened at $100.51 on Wednesday. Consolidated Edison has a one year low of $87.28 and a one year high of $114.87. The company has a market cap of $36.21 billion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.85.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.05). Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.85%.

Institutional Trading of Consolidated Edison

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Consolidated Edison by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,117,094 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,768,319,000 after purchasing an additional 661,432 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Consolidated Edison by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,984,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $799,684,000 after purchasing an additional 130,234 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Consolidated Edison by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,820,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $430,129,000 after purchasing an additional 271,088 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Consolidated Edison during the 4th quarter worth about $399,824,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Consolidated Edison by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,207,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,458,000 after purchasing an additional 390,708 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Consolidated Edison Company 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.