Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Increases Stock Holdings in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its position in shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 123.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,429,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,439,684,000 after purchasing an additional 399,034 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,853,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $919,041,000 after purchasing an additional 107,281 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Consolidated Edison by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,148,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $223,741,000 after buying an additional 28,254 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,145,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $223,373,000 after buying an additional 82,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 572,530 shares in the last quarter. 66.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ED has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $99.00 to $92.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $90.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Consolidated Edison from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $103.00 to $116.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Consolidated Edison in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.00.

Consolidated Edison Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ED opened at $93.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.41 billion, a PE ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.38. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $92.85 and a 200-day moving average of $98.09. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.85 and a 52-week high of $107.75.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.02 billion. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.70% and a net margin of 12.27%. On average, analysts anticipate that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. This is a boost from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Consolidated Edison’s payout ratio is 64.03%.

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.