Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) Short Interest Down 13.4% in May

Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) saw a significant drop in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,900,000 shares, a drop of 13.4% from the May 15th total of 7,970,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Consolidated Edison from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus raised shares of Consolidated Edison to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.58.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ED. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison in the 4th quarter valued at about $243,511,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Consolidated Edison by 9,063.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 519,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,216,000 after buying an additional 513,364 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Consolidated Edison by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,484,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $383,519,000 after buying an additional 340,239 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,515,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in Consolidated Edison by 408.8% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 396,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,101,000 after buying an additional 318,858 shares during the last quarter. 66.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Consolidated Edison Stock Up 0.3 %

ED stock traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $90.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,258,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,112,575. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Consolidated Edison has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $98.85. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $93.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.44, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.35.

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.40 billion. Consolidated Edison had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 8.79%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Consolidated Edison will post 5.34 EPS for the current year.

Consolidated Edison Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Consolidated Edison’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.72%.

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.