Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $104.36.

ED has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $96.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $103.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

Institutional Trading of Consolidated Edison

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Consolidated Edison by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,117,094 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,768,319,000 after acquiring an additional 661,432 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Consolidated Edison by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,984,022 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $799,684,000 after buying an additional 130,234 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Consolidated Edison by 6.0% in 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 valued at $430,129,000 after buying an additional 271,088 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison in the 4th quarter valued at $399,824,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Consolidated Edison by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,207,753 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $375,458,000 after buying an additional 390,708 shares during the last quarter. 66.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Consolidated Edison Price Performance

Shares of ED traded up $2.30 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $104.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,758,878 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,279,452. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $108.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Consolidated Edison has a fifty-two week low of $87.28 and a fifty-two week high of $114.87.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 11.93%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.15 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Consolidated Edison will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. Consolidated Edison's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.85%.

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.