Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,520,000 shares, a decrease of 49.3% from the February 28th total of 16,790,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Consolidated Edison

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Consolidated Edison during the third quarter worth about $776,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Consolidated Edison by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,145,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $223,373,000 after acquiring an additional 82,985 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 143,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,772,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 217,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $885,000 after purchasing an additional 4,451 shares during the period. 66.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ED has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on Consolidated Edison from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” 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 given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.40.

Consolidated Edison Trading Up 0.9 %

ED stock traded up $0.92 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $108.81. The stock had a trading volume of 2,392,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,141,644. The firm has a market cap of $37.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.30. Consolidated Edison has a twelve month low of $87.28 and a twelve month high of $109.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.51.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Consolidated Edison will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is 64.89%.

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.