Natixis Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Natixis Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,581 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $7,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ES. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Eversource Energy during the third quarter worth about $808,783,000. Amundi raised its position in Eversource Energy by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,482,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $367,691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,579,818 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Eversource Energy by 446.0% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 749,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,019,000 after acquiring an additional 612,421 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Eversource Energy by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,735,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,554,000 after acquiring an additional 510,582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Eversource Energy by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,539,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,737,990,000 after acquiring an additional 430,587 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ES shares. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Eversource Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $79.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eversource Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.45.

Eversource Energy Price Performance

Eversource Energy stock opened at $61.58 on Friday. Eversource Energy has a 1 year low of $54.75 and a 1 year high of $69.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $59.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.93. The company has a market cap of $22.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.66, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.01. Eversource Energy had a net margin of 6.82% and a return on equity of 10.99%. Sell-side analysts predict that Eversource Energy will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Eversource Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.7525 per share. This is an increase from Eversource Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. Eversource Energy’s payout ratio is currently 130.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Jay S. Buth sold 980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.99, for a total value of $61,730.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 24,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,535,318.26. This represents a 3.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Frederica M. Williams sold 3,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $192,507.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 22,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,411,496.46. This trade represents a 12.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Eversource Energy

Eversource Energy, a public utility holding company, engages in the energy delivery business. The company operates through Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission, Natural Gas Distribution, and Water Distribution segments. It is involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity; solar power facilities; and distribution of natural gas.