Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR) Short Interest Up 6.6% in February

Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR – Get Rating) saw a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,700,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the February 13th total of 4,410,000 shares. Approximately 6.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 597,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Avangrid

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AGR. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Avangrid by 426.5% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 48,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after purchasing an additional 38,919 shares during the last quarter. Natixis increased its position in shares of Avangrid by 92.9% during the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 156,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,726,000 after purchasing an additional 75,380 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Avangrid by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 42,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,813,000 after purchasing an additional 14,909 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Avangrid by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Personal Capital Advisors Corp increased its position in shares of Avangrid by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Personal Capital Advisors Corp now owns 289,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,450,000 after purchasing an additional 5,713 shares during the last quarter. 11.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avangrid Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE AGR opened at $39.55 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $41.11 and its 200 day moving average is $42.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Avangrid has a 12 month low of $37.64 and a 12 month high of $51.71. The stock has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a PE ratio of 17.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.40.

Avangrid (NYSE:AGR – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The utilities provider reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39. Avangrid had a return on equity of 4.45% and a net margin of 11.12%. The company had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Research analysts predict that Avangrid will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avangrid Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 28th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. Avangrid’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AGR. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Avangrid from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. StockNews.com began coverage on Avangrid in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Avangrid from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

Avangrid Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Avangrid, Inc engages in the energy transmission and gas distribution. It operates through the following segments: Networks, Renewables, and Other. The Networks segment includes energy transmission and distribution, electric transmission, and gas distribution activities. The Renewables segment relates to renewable energy, mainly wind energy generation and trading related to such activities.