LPL Financial LLC Boosts Holdings in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 683,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,329 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.20% of Consolidated Edison worth $60,998,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ED. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Consolidated Edison in the 3rd quarter valued at about $776,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 82,985 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Consolidated Edison by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 143,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,772,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 102.7% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 430,279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,394,000 after acquiring an additional 217,981 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 81.4% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,451 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ED has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Evercore ISI cut Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.40.

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

Consolidated Edison stock opened at $107.41 on Thursday. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.28 and a 52 week high of $109.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $98.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.30.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion for 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is 64.89%.

Consolidated Edison Company 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.