Consolidated Edison, Inc. (ED) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.85 on March 14th

Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of 0.85 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83.

Consolidated Edison has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 51 consecutive years. Consolidated Edison has a dividend payout ratio of 55.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Consolidated Edison to earn $5.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.1%.

Consolidated Edison Stock Up 1.6 %

ED stock opened at $93.74 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Consolidated Edison has a 1-year low of $85.85 and a 1-year high of $107.75. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $93.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.81.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.02 billion. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.70% and a net margin of 12.27%. Equities analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ED. Evercore ISI raised Consolidated Edison from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup raised shares of Consolidated Edison from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $103.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $90.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.64.

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.