Short Interest in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Drops By 49.3%

Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,520,000 shares, a drop of 49.3% from the February 28th total of 16,790,000 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison in the 4th quarter valued at $399,824,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1,766.0% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 988,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,980,000 after purchasing an additional 935,962 shares in the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 412.0% in the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 1,093,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $97,564,000 after buying an additional 879,866 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,721,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $332,090,000 after buying an additional 812,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 232.3% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,053,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,989,000 after buying an additional 736,348 shares during the period. 66.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Consolidated Edison Trading Up 1.0 %

ED stock traded up $1.11 on Friday, hitting $109.00. 981,825 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,134,963. 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 $37.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.30. Consolidated Edison has a twelve month low of $87.28 and a twelve month high of $109.44. The business’s fifty day moving average is $99.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.53.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 11.93%. The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is 64.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on ED. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI lowered Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.40.

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.