Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.85

Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.85 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83.

Consolidated Edison has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 51 years. Consolidated Edison has a payout ratio of 55.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Consolidated Edison to earn $5.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.1%.

Consolidated Edison Price Performance

NYSE:ED traded up $1.94 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $92.17. The company had a trading volume of 2,097,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,042,055. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $93.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.85. Consolidated Edison has a one year low of $85.85 and a one year high of $107.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.93 billion, a PE ratio of 17.36, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.38.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.02 billion. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 8.70%. Analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ED shares. Scotiabank raised Consolidated Edison from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $90.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup raised Consolidated Edison from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $103.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Consolidated Edison from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.64.

Consolidated Edison Company 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.