Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.75 Per Share

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of 0.7525 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.25%. This is an increase from Eversource Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72.

Eversource Energy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years. Eversource Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 56.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Eversource Energy to earn $4.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.86 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 60.0%.

Eversource Energy Stock Performance

Shares of ES stock opened at $57.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.90. Eversource Energy has a 52 week low of $52.71 and a 52 week high of $69.01.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.06 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ES has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Eversource Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 21st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank downgraded Eversource Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $66.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Eversource Energy from $62.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eversource Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.42.

Eversource Energy Company Profile

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.