J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 638 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $1,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Syon Capital LLC raised its position in Consolidated Edison by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 5,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. G&S Capital LLC boosted its position in Consolidated Edison by 1.6% during the first quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 8,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 2.6% during the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 5,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $503,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 3.5% in the second quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 4,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. 66.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ED shares. Bank of America raised their price target on Consolidated Edison from $97.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Argus upgraded shares of Consolidated Edison to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.65.

Consolidated Edison Stock Up 1.1 %

ED stock opened at $104.56 on Monday. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $105.99. The company has a market capitalization of $36.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $98.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 12.03%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 14th. Consolidated Edison’s payout ratio is currently 63.72%.

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.