Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 132,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,135 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $11,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ED. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,429,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,439,684,000 after purchasing an additional 399,034 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,853,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $919,041,000 after buying an additional 107,281 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,148,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $223,741,000 after acquiring an additional 28,254 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,145,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $223,373,000 after acquiring an additional 82,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Consolidated Edison by 82.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,268,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,081,000 after acquiring an additional 572,530 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $104.00 to $99.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Scotiabank raised shares of Consolidated Edison from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $90.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Consolidated Edison in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised Consolidated Edison from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $103.00 to $116.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.64.

Consolidated Edison Price Performance

Shares of Consolidated Edison stock opened at $90.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.01. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.85 and a 52-week high of $107.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $93.08 and a 200-day moving average of $97.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is 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.