Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $102.40.

Several research firms recently commented on ED. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Evercore ISI cut Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd.

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

Consolidated Edison stock opened at $110.69 on Tuesday. Consolidated Edison has a fifty-two week low of $87.28 and a fifty-two week high of $111.14. The stock has a market cap of $38.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.53. 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 (NYSE:ED) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Consolidated Edison will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.89%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Consolidated Edison

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Consolidated Edison during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Consolidated Edison in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

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.