Aviva PLC Purchases 98,722 Shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Aviva PLC boosted its position in shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 16.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 704,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,722 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $40,466,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,470,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $945,893,000 after purchasing an additional 4,585,232 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Eversource Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $188,838,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,482,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $367,691,000 after buying an additional 1,579,818 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,609,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,561,936,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 6,474,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,829,000 after acquiring an additional 890,514 shares during the period. 79.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Jay S. Buth sold 980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.99, for a total value of $61,730.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 24,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,535,318.26. This represents a 3.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Frederica M. Williams sold 3,092 shares of Eversource Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $192,507.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 22,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,411,496.46. The trade was a 12.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on ES. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Eversource Energy from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Eversource Energy from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Eversource Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.44.

Eversource Energy Stock Down 5.6 %

NYSE:ES opened at $58.48 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.31. Eversource Energy has a 52-week low of $54.75 and a 52-week high of $69.01. The company has a market cap of $21.47 billion, a PE ratio of 25.31, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.01. Eversource Energy had a net margin of 6.82% and a return on equity of 10.99%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Eversource Energy will post 4.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eversource Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.7525 per share. This represents a $3.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.15%. This is an increase from Eversource Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Eversource Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 130.30%.

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.