Ballentine Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 34.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,657 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,443 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Polianta Ltd purchased a new position in Eversource Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $1,068,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Eversource Energy by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eversource Energy during the fourth quarter worth $744,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 60.1% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. 79.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ES. Scotiabank cut shares of Eversource Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Eversource Energy from $62.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays dropped their target price on Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Eversource Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Eversource Energy in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “underperform” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.83.

Eversource Energy Price Performance

Eversource Energy stock opened at $56.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $20.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.87. Eversource Energy has a 1 year low of $52.71 and a 1 year high of $69.01.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. Eversource Energy had a positive return on equity of 10.90% and a negative net margin of 4.73%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Eversource Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a $0.715 dividend. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.08%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Eversource Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently -182.17%.

Eversource Energy Company Profile

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.