AIA Group Ltd Purchases New Position in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

AIA Group Ltd bought a new stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. United Bank bought a new stake in shares of Consolidated Edison during the 3rd quarter worth about $227,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 82.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,268,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,081,000 after purchasing an additional 572,530 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 2.4% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 11.9% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 3,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 231.1% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 15,382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,602,000 after buying an additional 10,736 shares during the period. 66.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Consolidated Edison Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE ED opened at $110.07 on Wednesday. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.28 and a 1-year high of $111.11. The company has a market capitalization of $38.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $100.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

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

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. This is a boost from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ED. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on Consolidated Edison from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Consolidated Edison from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.40.

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.