Trust Co. of Vermont Has $579,000 Stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Trust Co. of Vermont reduced its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 16.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,494 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,240 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Consolidated Edison in the third quarter worth $776,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in Consolidated Edison by 10,302.6% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 24,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,546,000 after acquiring an additional 24,211 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 4.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,145,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $223,373,000 after purchasing an additional 82,985 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 102.7% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 430,279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,394,000 after purchasing an additional 217,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 7.0% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 468,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,792,000 after buying an additional 30,838 shares during the last quarter. 66.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on ED. Evercore ISI upgraded Consolidated Edison from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $104.00 to $99.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Consolidated Edison in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Consolidated Edison from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $90.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.64.

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

Shares of ED stock opened at $93.74 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $32.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.38. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.85 and a 52 week high of $107.75. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.84.

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

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.52%.

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.