Essex Financial Services Inc. Buys 876 Shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 876 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $1,252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Eversource Energy by 1.7% during the 3rd 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Eversource Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $808,783,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 3.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,040,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $613,233,000 after purchasing an additional 268,588 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,019,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $477,647,000 after buying an additional 185,381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Eversource Energy by 4.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,956,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,270,000 after buying an additional 216,630 shares during the period. 79.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ES shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Eversource Energy from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Eversource Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.42.

Eversource Energy Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ES opened at $61.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -39.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $57.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Eversource Energy has a 12-month low of $53.76 and a 12-month high of $69.01.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 positive return on equity of 10.90% and a negative net margin of 4.73%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Eversource Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.7525 per share. This is a positive change from Eversource Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. Eversource Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently -182.17%.

Eversource Energy Profile

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.