Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Position in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 36.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 176,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 47,394 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Consolidated Edison worth $15,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1,766.0% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 988,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,980,000 after buying an additional 935,962 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 572,530 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 10,262.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 553,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,641,000 after purchasing an additional 548,204 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Consolidated Edison by 350.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,634,000 after buying an additional 482,953 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,429,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,439,684,000 after acquiring an additional 399,034 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Consolidated Edison Price Performance

ED stock opened at $99.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $34.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.02, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.39. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.85 and a fifty-two week high of $107.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $92.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.95.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (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 return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 11.93%. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is 64.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ED has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut shares of Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.10.

About Consolidated Edison

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.