UBS Group AG Increases Stock Holdings in Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR)

UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR – Get Rating) by 213.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 174,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 118,695 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Avangrid were worth $7,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGR. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Avangrid by 506.6% during the third quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 625,284 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,075,000 after buying an additional 522,200 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Avangrid by 9,303.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 527,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,313,000 after buying an additional 521,561 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Avangrid by 1,260.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 347,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,894,000 after buying an additional 321,958 shares during the period. PATRIZIA Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Avangrid during the fourth quarter worth about $11,139,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Avangrid by 16.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,799,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,661,000 after buying an additional 255,851 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.96% of the company’s stock.

Avangrid Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:AGR opened at $38.15 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.08. The stock has a market cap of $14.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.42. Avangrid, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.44 and a fifty-two week high of $51.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Avangrid (NYSE:AGR – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Avangrid had a net margin of 8.25% and a return on equity of 3.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Avangrid, Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avangrid Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 31st. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.61%. Avangrid’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Avangrid from $43.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 29th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Avangrid in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Avangrid from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Avangrid from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.83.

About Avangrid

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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.