M&G PLC Buys 32,447 Shares of Eversource Energy $ES

Key Points

• M&G PLC increased its Eversource Energy stake by 3.7%, buying 32,447 shares in the third quarter to hold 898,389 shares valued at about $57.5 million.
• Eversource beat quarterly earnings estimates, reporting $0.92 per share versus $0.90 expected, but revenue fell 7.5% year over year to $2.98 billion and missed forecasts.
• Analysts have a consensus Hold rating and a $73.17 price target. The company’s annualized dividend is $3.15 per share, a 4.5% yield.

M&G PLC raised its stake in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES - Free Report) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 898,389 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 32,447 shares during the quarter. M&G PLC owned about 0.24% of Eversource Energy worth $57,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ES. Man Group plc acquired a new stake in Eversource Energy in the second quarter valued at $57,166,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Eversource Energy by 55.4% in the second quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 55,071 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,980,000 after acquiring an additional 19,628 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. bought a new position in Eversource Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $702,000. Quantitative Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Eversource Energy during the second quarter worth about $1,116,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eversource Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,219,000. 79.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eversource Energy Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of ES opened at $69.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $26.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.36, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. Eversource Energy has a one year low of $62.72 and a one year high of $76.57. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $67.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.02.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. Eversource Energy had a net margin of 10.38% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The company had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Eversource Energy will post 4.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eversource Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st were issued a $0.7875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 21st. This represents a $3.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Eversource Energy's payout ratio is 83.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ES. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Eversource Energy in a report on Monday, July 27th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. HSBC started coverage on Eversource Energy in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. They set a "hold" rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Eversource Energy in a research report on Friday. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $76.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Eversource Energy from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $73.17.

About Eversource Energy

Eversource Energy is a public utility holding company that delivers electricity and natural gas to customers in New England. Its businesses include electric transmission and distribution, natural gas distribution, and related energy services.

The company serves customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire through local utility subsidiaries. Its operations include maintaining and upgrading the networks used to deliver energy to homes and businesses.

Eversource traces its history to Northeast Utilities, which adopted the Eversource Energy name in 2015 after combining with NSTAR.

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