Alliancebernstein L.P. Raises Stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 459,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,386 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $40,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ED. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 4.7% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Consolidated Edison by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,194 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. grew its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 2,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Point Inc. grew its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 2,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on ED. Mizuho boosted their price objective 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.40.

Consolidated Edison Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ED opened at $109.53 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.73. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.28 and a 52 week high of $114.87. The company has a market cap of $37.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.63 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.10%. This is a positive change from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. Consolidated Edison’s payout ratio is presently 64.89%.

Consolidated Edison Company Profile

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.