Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Eversource Energy $ES

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 7,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $541,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ES. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Eversource Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $274,744,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 43,905.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,692,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $171,309,000 after acquiring an additional 2,686,588 shares in the last quarter. Covalis Capital LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Eversource Energy in the second quarter valued at about $71,377,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 310.1% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,110,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,626,000 after purchasing an additional 839,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 50.7% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,074,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,958,000 after purchasing an additional 697,820 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ES shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Bank of America raised Eversource Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $73.00 to $85.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group dropped their price target on Eversource Energy from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective (down previously from $81.00) on shares of Eversource Energy in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Eversource Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $79.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP James W. Hunt III sold 4,129 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.77, for a total transaction of $300,467.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 32,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,358,839.55. This represents a 11.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eversource Energy Stock Performance

Shares of ES opened at $69.54 on Friday. Eversource Energy has a 1 year low of $52.28 and a 1 year high of $75.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $67.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.08. The firm has a market cap of $26.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.76.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.07. Eversource Energy had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 10.22%.The company had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Eversource Energy will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

Eversource Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th were given a $0.7525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Eversource Energy’s payout ratio is 82.47%.

Eversource Energy Company Profile

Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES) is a publicly traded, regulated energy company headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut. The company’s core business is the delivery and transmission of electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers across parts of New England. Eversource operates transmission and distribution networks, maintains electrical infrastructure, responds to outages and storms, and manages natural gas pipeline and distribution systems in the regions it serves.

Eversource serves customers primarily in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, operating through locally regulated utility subsidiaries that administer customer service, billing, meter reading and localized operations.