CENTRAL TRUST Co Grows Stock Holdings in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 399 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Verity & Verity LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eversource Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $744,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,735,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,554,000 after buying an additional 510,582 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 46.9% during the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 31,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,151,000 after buying an additional 10,093 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eversource Energy during the third quarter valued at about $3,616,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 73,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,198,000 after buying an additional 7,967 shares during the last quarter. 79.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eversource Energy Trading Down 0.7 %

Eversource Energy stock opened at $58.08 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Eversource Energy has a 12 month low of $52.71 and a 12 month high of $69.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.83. The firm has a market cap of $21.28 billion, a PE ratio of -36.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. Eversource Energy had a positive return on equity of 10.90% and a negative net margin of 4.73%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Eversource Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a $0.7525 dividend. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.18%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This is a positive change from Eversource Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Eversource Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently -182.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ES has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eversource Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Eversource Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.42.

About Eversource Energy

Eversource Energy, a public utility holding company, engages in the energy delivery business. The company operates through Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission, Natural Gas Distribution, and Water Distribution segments. It is involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity; solar power facilities; and distribution of natural gas.