Eversource Energy’s (ES) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at Mizuho

Mizuho restated their neutral rating on shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) in a report issued on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Mizuho currently has a $68.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $81.00.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on ES. Bank of America upgraded shares of Eversource Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $73.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Janney Montgomery Scott reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a research note on Monday, October 13th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Eversource Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Eversource Energy from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a report on Friday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $69.70.

Eversource Energy Stock Up 1.6%

Eversource Energy stock opened at $64.54 on Thursday. Eversource Energy has a one year low of $52.28 and a one year high of $75.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $71.18 and a 200 day moving average of $66.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $24.21 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.69.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 10.22%.The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Eversource Energy will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

Eversource Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.7525 dividend. This represents a $3.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. Eversource Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.47%.

Insider Activity at Eversource Energy

In other news, EVP James W. Hunt III sold 4,129 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.77, for a total value of $300,467.33. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,415 shares in the company, valued at $2,358,839.55. The trade was a 11.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eversource Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $286,130,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Eversource Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $274,744,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 43,905.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,692,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $171,309,000 after purchasing an additional 2,686,588 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 412.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,800,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,449,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 331.5% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,566,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $111,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203,563 shares in the last quarter. 79.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.