Baillie Gifford & Co. Purchases 4,748 Shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 69.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,748 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $1,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ED. Roundview Capital LLC bought a new position in Consolidated Edison during the first quarter valued at approximately $680,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Consolidated Edison by 22.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,030,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $97,579,000 after purchasing an additional 190,138 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 54.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 18,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,693,000 after buying an additional 6,412 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 1.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,845,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Consolidated Edison during the first quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Institutional investors own 66.29% of the company’s stock.

Consolidated Edison Stock Performance

ED opened at $88.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33, a PEG ratio of 8.54 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $88.96 and a 200 day moving average of $89.47. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $100.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 17.19% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The business had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. Consolidated Edison’s quarterly revenue was down 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Consolidated Edison Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. This is a positive change from Consolidated Edison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on ED shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $99.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Consolidated Edison from $94.00 to $93.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp raised shares of Consolidated Edison from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.96.

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.