Delta Financial Group Inc. Buys New Position in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $412,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison during the third quarter worth about $30,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Consolidated Edison during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Consolidated Edison during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Consolidated Edison Stock Up 2.6 %

ED stock opened at $98.27 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $92.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.96. 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 $34.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This is a positive change from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is 64.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ED. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $99.00 to $92.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.70.

Consolidated Edison 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.