Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES – Get Rating) shares traded down 2.8% during trading on Friday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $75.00. The stock traded as low as $68.84 and last traded at $68.88. 1,300,885 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 26% from the average session volume of 1,746,416 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.86.
Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Eversource Energy in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Eversource Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $95.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $91.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Eversource Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.92.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eversource Energy
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ES. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Eversource Energy by 101,201.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,617,104 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,057,818,000 after purchasing an additional 12,604,649 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Eversource Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $274,262,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 4,397.4% in the first quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,072,762 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048,909 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 64.0% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,285,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,067,000 after acquiring an additional 891,641 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,413,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,462,474,000 after acquiring an additional 871,683 shares during the period. 77.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Eversource Energy Stock Performance
The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.43. The firm has a market cap of $23.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.
Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.07. Eversource Energy had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 9.51%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Eversource Energy will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Eversource Energy Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. Eversource Energy’s payout ratio is 64.75%.
About Eversource Energy
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.