Ellsworth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 48,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the period. Consolidated Edison accounts for approximately 1.4% of Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $4,446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ED. Roundview Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison in the 1st quarter worth approximately $680,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,030,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $97,579,000 after acquiring an additional 190,138 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 54.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 18,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,693,000 after acquiring an additional 6,412 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,845,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Consolidated Edison during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

Shares of ED stock traded up $0.76 on Friday, reaching $90.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,785,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,679,056. The stock has a market cap of $31.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.35. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $100.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.54.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 17.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 13th. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.24%.

Consolidated Edison 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.