Savant Capital LLC Increases Stock Position in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 347 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ES. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Eversource Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $808,783,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 446.0% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 749,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,019,000 after purchasing an additional 612,421 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,735,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,554,000 after purchasing an additional 510,582 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,539,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,737,990,000 after purchasing an additional 430,587 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 518.1% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 480,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,683,000 after purchasing an additional 402,574 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ES. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Eversource Energy from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Eversource Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.45.

Eversource Energy Stock Down 1.5 %

ES stock opened at $61.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Eversource Energy has a twelve month low of $54.75 and a twelve month high of $69.01. The company’s 50 day moving average is $57.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.66. The stock has a market cap of $22.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -39.22, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.62.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.01. Eversource Energy had a negative net margin of 4.73% and a positive return on equity of 10.90%. Research analysts expect that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eversource Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.7525 dividend. This represents a $3.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.89%. This is a boost from Eversource Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. Eversource Energy’s payout ratio is presently -182.17%.

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.