Navellier & Associates Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Navellier & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 29.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Consolidated Edison in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, CGC Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. 66.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

Shares of ED opened at $98.27 on Monday. 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 stock has a market capitalization 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. The company’s fifty day moving average is $92.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.96. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 1 year low of $85.85 and a 1 year high of $107.75.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its 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 company 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

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

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.