Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Shares in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 20,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 4,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 1,533 shares during the period. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison in the fourth quarter worth about $289,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Consolidated Edison by 48.7% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $691,000 after purchasing an additional 2,489 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its position in Consolidated Edison by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 23,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,093,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex LLC raised its position in Consolidated Edison by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Essex LLC now owns 21,660 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,840 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

Shares of Consolidated Edison stock opened at $90.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $31.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.66, a P/E/G ratio of 8.24 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.55. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $100.92.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 17.19% and a return on equity of 8.41%. Consolidated Edison’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ED has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $94.00 to $93.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. KeyCorp raised shares of Consolidated Edison from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of Consolidated Edison in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $92.50 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $99.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.96.

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.