Brokerages Set Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) Price Target at $71.27

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.50.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Eversource Energy from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Bank of America raised shares of Eversource Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 price target (down from $81.00) on shares of Eversource Energy in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a research report on Friday, October 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP James W. Hunt III sold 4,129 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 32,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,358,839.55. This represents a 11.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eversource Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 8.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,149 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in Eversource Energy by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 30,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after buying an additional 8,984 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 115.1% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 801 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Eversource Energy by 36.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 64,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,166,000 after purchasing an additional 17,118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 31.4% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 18,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after buying an additional 4,373 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.99% of the company’s stock.

Eversource Energy Stock Performance

ES opened at $69.54 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $26.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.76. Eversource Energy has a 1-year low of $52.28 and a 1-year high of $75.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.07. Eversource Energy had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Eversource Energy will post 4.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eversource Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.7525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Eversource Energy’s payout ratio is presently 82.47%.

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.