Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $28.16 Million Stake in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 413,874 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,654 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $28,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ES. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Eversource Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eversource Energy in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 62.9% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 162.0% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Eversource Energy during the third quarter worth about $48,000. Institutional investors own 79.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised Eversource Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Mizuho upped their price objective on Eversource Energy from $62.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Eversource Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Eversource Energy in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “underperform” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eversource Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.38.

Eversource Energy Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:ES opened at $57.28 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $20.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.60. Eversource Energy has a 1 year low of $52.09 and a 1 year high of $69.01. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $62.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.07.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 EPS for the current year.

Eversource Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.715 per share. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 18th. Eversource Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -182.17%.

About Eversource Energy

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.