Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases 18,528 Shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 240,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,528 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.07% of Consolidated Edison worth $21,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Consolidated Edison by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,455,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,788,319,000 after acquiring an additional 488,752 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,429,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,439,684,000 after purchasing an additional 399,034 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,853,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $919,041,000 after purchasing an additional 107,281 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Consolidated Edison by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,225,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,625,000 after buying an additional 77,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Consolidated Edison by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,221,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $197,795,000 after buying an additional 242,243 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ED has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.40.

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

NYSE ED opened at $107.41 on Thursday. 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. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.01. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.28 and a fifty-two week high of $109.36.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. 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.