Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Stake in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 21,100 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,302,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eversource Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 130.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 642 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 40.4% during the third quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 716 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eversource Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 758 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank cut their price target on Eversource Energy from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Argus cut their price target on Eversource Energy from $85.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 25th. Guggenheim upgraded Eversource Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $60.00 to $72.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Eversource Energy to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Eversource Energy from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.85.

Eversource Energy Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of ES stock traded up $0.61 on Monday, reaching $60.30. 1,558,868 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,966,266. Eversource Energy has a 52 week low of $52.03 and a 52 week high of $79.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.15 billion, a PE ratio of -47.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.58. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $58.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.87.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.02). Eversource Energy had a positive return on equity of 9.92% and a negative net margin of 3.71%. The business had revenue of $2.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. Eversource Energy's revenue was down 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Eversource Energy will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

Eversource Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.715 per share. This is a positive change from Eversource Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. Eversource Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -226.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eversource Energy news, insider Frederica M. Williams sold 2,714 shares of Eversource Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.60, for a total transaction of $156,326.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,245,369.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Eversource Energy news, insider Frederica M. Williams sold 2,714 shares of Eversource Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.60, for a total transaction of $156,326.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,245,369.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Linda Dorcena Forry sold 822 shares of Eversource Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.12, for a total value of $47,774.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,485 shares of the company's stock, valued at $609,388.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Eversource Energy

Eversource Energy, a public utility holding company, engages in the energy delivery business. The company operates through Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission, Natural Gas Distribution, and Water Distribution segments. It is involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity; solar power facilities; and distribution of natural gas.