Legal & General Group Plc Sells 498,622 Shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,207,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 498,622 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 1.76% of Eversource Energy worth $352,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ES. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in Eversource Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eversource Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 62.6% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 49.7% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Eversource Energy by 83.6% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 606 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 815 shares of Eversource Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.50, for a total transaction of $53,382.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $591,596. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.50, for a total value of $53,382.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,032 shares in the company, valued at $591,596. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 500 shares of Eversource Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.94, for a total transaction of $32,470.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $639,464.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on Eversource Energy from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Eversource Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Eversource Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Eversource Energy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.93.

Eversource Energy Stock Performance

Shares of ES opened at $67.52 on Friday. Eversource Energy has a 52-week low of $52.03 and a 52-week high of $69.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -57.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.61.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Eversource Energy had a negative net margin of 0.81% and a positive return on equity of 10.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Eversource Energy will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eversource Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.715 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. Eversource Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -242.37%.

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.