Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D) Short Interest Update

Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,990,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the November 30th total of 17,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,490,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dominion Energy

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. IFG Advisory LLC bought a new position in Dominion Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $272,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Dominion Energy by 14.8% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Dominion Energy by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595 shares in the last quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dominion Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $272,000. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Dominion Energy by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 72,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,529,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. 73.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Dominion Energy Price Performance

Shares of Dominion Energy stock opened at $54.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.43 and a 200-day moving average of $55.34. Dominion Energy has a 52-week low of $43.53 and a 52-week high of $61.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Dominion Energy (NYSE:D) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.05. Dominion Energy had a return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 16.95%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. Dominion Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Dominion Energy will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Dominion Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.6675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.91%. Dominion Energy’s payout ratio is presently 93.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on D shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Dominion Energy from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Dominion Energy in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Dominion Energy in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Dominion Energy from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Dominion Energy in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $61.00 price objective for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dominion Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.58.

About Dominion Energy

Dominion Energy, Inc produces and distributes energy in the United States. It operates through three operating segments: Dominion Energy Virginia, Dominion Energy South Carolina, and Contracted Energy. The Dominion Energy Virginia segment generates, transmits, and distributes regulated electricity to approximately 2.8 million residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers in Virginia and North Carolina.