41,392 Shares in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Bought by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 41,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,693,000. Consolidated Edison comprises approximately 0.5% of AlphaQuest LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison during the third quarter worth $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison during the third quarter worth $30,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 66.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on ED. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho raised their target price on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Consolidated Edison presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.50.

Consolidated Edison Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE:ED opened at $103.73 on Friday. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.16 and a fifty-two week high of $107.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.30. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.03.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 11.93%. The business had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Consolidated Edison, Inc. 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 will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Consolidated Edison’s payout ratio is 64.89%.

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.