Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the four research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.75.

AGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Avangrid from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Janney Montgomery Scott reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Avangrid in a report on Friday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Avangrid from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Avangrid from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd.

Institutional Trading of Avangrid

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Avangrid by 179.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 157,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,120,000 after buying an additional 101,543 shares in the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avangrid by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 81,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,447,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in shares of Avangrid by 10.7% during the third quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 411,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,415,000 after purchasing an additional 39,937 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avangrid by 1.4% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 225,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,818,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Avangrid by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 121,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,671,000 after purchasing an additional 33,528 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Avangrid Stock Performance

Shares of AGR opened at $35.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $13.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.27. Avangrid has a 52-week low of $27.46 and a 52-week high of $41.22.

Avangrid (NYSE:AGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.03. Avangrid had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 3.92%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Avangrid will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avangrid Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. Avangrid’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.70%.

About Avangrid

Avangrid, Inc, an energy services holding company, engages in the regulated energy transmission and distribution, and renewable energy generation businesses in the United States. The company operates through Networks and Renewables segments. It is involved in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity; and distribution, transportation, and sale of natural gas.