Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 249 Shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $1,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 10,302.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 24,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,546,000 after buying an additional 24,211 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 17,683.9% in the 1st quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 9,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $904,000 after purchasing an additional 9,903 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 74.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 17,150 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,557,000 after purchasing an additional 7,324 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 162.1% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 176,279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,999,000 after purchasing an additional 109,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its position in Consolidated Edison by 8.5% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 65,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,893,000 after buying an additional 5,161 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ED. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded Consolidated Edison from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $103.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.35.

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

Shares of Consolidated Edison stock opened at $96.44 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $102.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.36. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.85 and a 52 week high of $107.75.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.12. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.70% and a net margin of 12.27%. The business had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.33 EPS for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. Consolidated Edison’s payout ratio is 62.52%.

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.