Brown Advisory Inc. Lowers Holdings in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Brown Advisory Inc. trimmed its holdings in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 604 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,609,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,561,936,000 after buying an additional 1,387,072 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 38.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,470,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $945,893,000 after acquiring an additional 4,585,232 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,557,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $547,550,000 after acquiring an additional 517,042 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Eversource Energy by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,352,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $422,259,000 after buying an additional 333,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its position in Eversource Energy by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 6,474,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,829,000 after acquiring an additional 890,514 shares during the last quarter. 79.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 2,600 shares of Eversource Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.00, for a total value of $166,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 10,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $703,232. The trade was a 19.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on ES shares. Mizuho upped their price objective on Eversource Energy from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and set a $58.00 price objective (down from $69.00) on shares of Eversource Energy in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Eversource Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Eversource Energy from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.67.

Eversource Energy Stock Down 1.0%

Eversource Energy stock opened at $64.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $23.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.62. Eversource Energy has a 52 week low of $52.28 and a 52 week high of $69.01. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $64.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Eversource Energy had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 6.63%. The company had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.49 earnings per share. Eversource Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eversource Energy will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Eversource Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.7525 dividend. This represents a $3.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Eversource Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 129.74%.

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.