Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Boosts Holdings in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES – Get Rating) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $1,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 64.0% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,285,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,067,000 after purchasing an additional 891,641 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Eversource Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,413,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,462,474,000 after buying an additional 871,683 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA raised its stake in Eversource Energy by 37.2% in the third quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA now owns 3,064,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $238,901,000 after buying an additional 830,693 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 22,751.6% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 516,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,908,000 after purchasing an additional 514,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 38.4% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,850,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,127,000 after purchasing an additional 513,393 shares during the last quarter. 77.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on ES shares. Wolfe Research lowered Eversource Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Eversource Energy from $91.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. Evercore ISI raised Eversource Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Eversource Energy from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.58.

Eversource Energy Price Performance

NYSE:ES opened at $73.17 on Friday. Eversource Energy has a 52 week low of $70.54 and a 52 week high of $94.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $77.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.58. The company has a market capitalization of $25.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.46.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.07. Eversource Energy had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 11.52%. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Eversource Energy will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Eversource Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Eversource Energy’s payout ratio is presently 64.75%.

About Eversource Energy

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Eversource Energy engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of natural gas and electricity. It operates through the following segments: Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission, Natural Gas Distribution and Water Distribution. The Electric Distribution segment distributes electricity to retail customers.