UBS Group Cuts Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) Price Target to $73.00

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) had its price target decreased by UBS Group from $78.00 to $73.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Eversource Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a report on Friday, October 31st. Bank of America upgraded Eversource Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $85.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eversource Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.27.

Eversource Energy Stock Performance

ES stock opened at $67.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $70.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.36. Eversource Energy has a 1 year low of $52.28 and a 1 year high of $75.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Eversource Energy had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Eversource Energy will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

Eversource Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.7525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. Eversource Energy’s payout ratio is currently 82.47%.

Insider Activity at Eversource Energy

In related news, EVP James W. Hunt III sold 4,129 shares of Eversource Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.77, for a total transaction of $300,467.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,358,839.55. This trade represents a 11.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Eversource Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,814,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,330,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,708 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Eversource Energy by 1.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,343,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,739,564,000 after purchasing an additional 465,822 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Eversource Energy by 2.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,273,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $587,449,000 after buying an additional 211,962 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Eversource Energy by 6.5% during the third quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 7,406,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $526,919,000 after buying an additional 454,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Eversource Energy by 9.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,900,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $419,773,000 after buying an additional 505,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.99% of the company’s stock.

Eversource Energy Company Profile

Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES) is a publicly traded, regulated energy company headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut. The company’s core business is the delivery and transmission of electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers across parts of New England. Eversource operates transmission and distribution networks, maintains electrical infrastructure, responds to outages and storms, and manages natural gas pipeline and distribution systems in the regions it serves.

Eversource serves customers primarily in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, operating through locally regulated utility subsidiaries that administer customer service, billing, meter reading and localized operations.