State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Position in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its holdings in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 32.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 127,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 61,095 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $7,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 67.6% in the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 54,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,081,000 after buying an additional 21,919 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in Eversource Energy by 270.7% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Eversource Energy by 0.7% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 42,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,431,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation bought a new position in Eversource Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, Choreo LLC bought a new position in Eversource Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $317,000. Institutional investors own 79.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Eversource Energy

In other news, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.50, for a total value of $53,382.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $591,596. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.50, for a total value of $53,382.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $591,596. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.94, for a total transaction of $32,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,847 shares in the company, valued at $639,464.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Eversource Energy Stock Performance

ES opened at $67.97 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -57.60, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.73 and a 200 day moving average of $61.03. Eversource Energy has a fifty-two week low of $52.03 and a fifty-two week high of $69.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.95. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. Eversource Energy had a negative net margin of 0.81% and a positive return on equity of 10.34%. Eversource Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eversource Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.715 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.21%. Eversource Energy’s payout ratio is -242.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ES shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Eversource Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.93.

Eversource Energy 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.