Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Shares Bought by Busey Bank

Busey Bank increased its stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 96,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,480 shares during the period. Busey Bank’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $8,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in Consolidated Edison by 4.7% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in Consolidated Edison by 1.1% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,142 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,160,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in Consolidated Edison by 2.4% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in Consolidated Edison by 0.6% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 24,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,517,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group lifted its position in Consolidated Edison by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 2,799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. 66.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ED. Evercore ISI cut shares of Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup raised shares of Consolidated Edison from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $103.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Consolidated Edison in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Consolidated Edison from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.00.

Consolidated Edison Stock Down 0.8 %

ED stock opened at $92.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 1-year low of $85.85 and a 1-year high of $107.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $92.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.10. The firm has a market cap of $32.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.44, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.38.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.12. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 8.70%. The firm had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.02 billion. Research analysts predict that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. This is a positive change from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.52%.

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.