Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 1,156 Shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Private Advisor Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,156 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $4,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 399,034 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,853,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $919,041,000 after acquiring an additional 107,281 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,148,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $223,741,000 after acquiring an additional 28,254 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 4.0% in 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. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 82.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,268,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $132,081,000 after purchasing an additional 572,530 shares during the period. 66.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Consolidated Edison Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of Consolidated Edison stock opened at $98.27 on Monday. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 1 year low of $85.85 and a 1 year high of $107.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market cap of $34.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $92.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.96.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $3.63 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Consolidated Edison’s payout ratio is presently 64.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ED. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $99.00 to $92.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho raised their price target on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI downgraded Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.70.

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.