Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $108.00 and last traded at $108.06, with a volume of 259114 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $106.41.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ED shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.50.

Consolidated Edison Stock Up 0.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $37.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.26.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 8.62%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.89%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Consolidated Edison

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,455,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,788,319,000 after buying an additional 488,752 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position 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 worth $2,439,684,000 after buying an additional 399,034 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,984,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $799,684,000 after buying an additional 130,234 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,820,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $430,129,000 after buying an additional 271,088 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Consolidated Edison during the 4th quarter worth approximately $399,824,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

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.