AGF Management Ltd. Sells 5,245 Shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

AGF Management Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,245 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $2,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 1,766.0% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 988,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,980,000 after buying an additional 935,962 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 82.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,268,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $132,081,000 after acquiring an additional 572,530 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 350.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,634,000 after acquiring an additional 482,953 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC bought a new position in Consolidated Edison in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,147,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Consolidated Edison by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,429,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,439,684,000 after purchasing an additional 399,034 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Consolidated Edison Price Performance

Shares of ED opened at $102.72 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.11. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.16 and a 52-week high of $107.97. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $35.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.30.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This is an increase from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ED shares. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.50.

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.