Merit Financial Group LLC Raises Holdings in Eversource Energy $ES

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 132.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,864 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,047 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $1,627,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Eversource Energy by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,652,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,904,422,000 after acquiring an additional 691,165 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,343,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,739,564,000 after purchasing an additional 465,822 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,273,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $587,449,000 after purchasing an additional 211,962 shares in the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 6,952,127 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,294,000 after purchasing an additional 75,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 3.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,702,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $354,177,000 after purchasing an additional 185,146 shares in the last quarter. 79.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded Eversource Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $73.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group cut their target price on Eversource Energy from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Eversource Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Eversource Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Eversource Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, November 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.27.

Eversource Energy Trading Up 1.1%

ES opened at $68.05 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Eversource Energy has a 52 week low of $52.28 and a 52 week high of $75.25. The business’s 50 day moving average is $69.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.55. The firm has a market cap of $25.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.76.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Eversource Energy had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 10.22%.The company’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Eversource Energy will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

Eversource Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th were issued a $0.7525 dividend. This represents a $3.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 17th. Eversource Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eversource Energy

In related news, EVP James W. Hunt III sold 4,129 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.77, for a total transaction of $300,467.33. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 32,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,358,839.55. This trade represents a 11.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.