Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,910,000 shares, an increase of 7.3% from the December 31st total of 13,890,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,170,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ED. Citigroup raised shares of Consolidated Edison from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $103.00 to $116.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI cut Consolidated Edison from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Consolidated Edison in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. 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, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.00.

Institutional Trading of Consolidated Edison

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ED. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Consolidated Edison during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Consolidated Edison during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Consolidated Edison in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, CGC Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Consolidated Edison by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. 66.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Consolidated Edison Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ED traded down $0.58 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $95.04. 328,700 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,412,404. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.39. Consolidated Edison has a 52-week low of $85.85 and a 52-week high of $107.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $92.42 and its 200-day moving average is $98.15.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $4.09 billion for 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.52%.

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.