New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Position in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 235,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 12,000 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $21,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Consolidated Edison by 82.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,268,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $132,081,000 after buying an additional 572,530 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Consolidated Edison by 10,262.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 553,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,641,000 after buying an additional 548,204 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 350.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,634,000 after buying an additional 482,953 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,429,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,439,684,000 after acquiring an additional 399,034 shares during the last quarter. 66.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ED has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho raised 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. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $99.00 to $92.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upgraded Consolidated Edison from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.70.

Consolidated Edison Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE ED opened at $98.27 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $92.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 12-month low of $85.85 and a 12-month high of $107.75. The company has a market cap of $34.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.39.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.63 billion. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 11.93%. Research analysts anticipate that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. This is a positive change from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.89%.

Consolidated Edison 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.