Arizona State Retirement System Grows Stock Position in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 105,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,155 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $6,581,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ES. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,609,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,561,936,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387,072 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Eversource Energy by 38.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,470,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $945,893,000 after buying an additional 4,585,232 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Eversource Energy by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,557,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,550,000 after buying an additional 517,042 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,352,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $422,259,000 after acquiring an additional 333,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 6,474,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,829,000 after acquiring an additional 890,514 shares during the period. 79.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ES. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Eversource Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $58.00 price target (down previously from $69.00) on shares of Eversource Energy in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Eversource Energy from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.67.

Insider Transactions at Eversource Energy

In other Eversource Energy news, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.00, for a total value of $166,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 10,988 shares in the company, valued at $703,232. The trade was a 19.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eversource Energy Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:ES opened at $65.40 on Tuesday. Eversource Energy has a 52 week low of $52.28 and a 52 week high of $69.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $63.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Eversource Energy had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 6.63%. The firm had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.49 EPS. Eversource Energy’s revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Eversource Energy will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

Eversource Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.7525 per share. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Eversource Energy’s payout ratio is currently 129.74%.

About Eversource Energy

Eversource Energy, a public utility holding company, engages in the energy delivery business. The company operates through Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission, Natural Gas Distribution, and Water Distribution segments. It is involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity; solar power facilities; and distribution of natural gas.