Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Boosts Stake in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 583,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,246 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.17% of Consolidated Edison worth $52,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ED. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,455,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,788,319,000 after purchasing an additional 488,752 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 1.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,853,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $919,041,000 after acquiring an additional 107,281 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,225,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,625,000 after acquiring an additional 77,323 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,221,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $197,795,000 after acquiring an additional 242,243 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ED. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Consolidated Edison from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.40.

Consolidated Edison Price Performance

ED opened at $105.60 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $98.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.40. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.16 and a 12-month high of $109.36. The firm has a market cap of $36.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.63 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Consolidated Edison’s payout ratio is 64.89%.

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.