Fifth Third Bancorp Acquires 596 Shares of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED)

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 18,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $2,010,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its position in Consolidated Edison by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 6,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. bought a new stake in Consolidated Edison in the 1st quarter valued at about $218,000. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in Consolidated Edison in the 1st quarter valued at about $200,000. CX Institutional bought a new stake in Consolidated Edison in the 1st quarter valued at about $315,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Consolidated Edison by 108.4% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 634,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,193,000 after purchasing an additional 330,113 shares in the last quarter. 66.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ED. Barclays boosted their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $103.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Consolidated Edison from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.27.

Consolidated Edison Price Performance

Consolidated Edison stock opened at $103.89 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $37.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.50. Consolidated Edison, Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.28 and a 12 month high of $114.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.05). Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Consolidated Edison, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. Consolidated Edison’s payout ratio is currently 62.85%.

Consolidated Edison Company Profile

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.