Essex Financial Services Inc. Buys 3,557 Shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) by 18.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,009 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,557 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Eversource Energy were worth $1,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ES. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eversource Energy in the second quarter worth $482,000. Graypoint LLC raised its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 6.6% in the second quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 3,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 9.6% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 90,658 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,141,000 after purchasing an additional 7,906 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Eversource Energy by 3.5% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 257,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,626,000 after purchasing an additional 8,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eversource Energy in the second quarter worth $74,000. 79.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.50, for a total transaction of $53,382.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $591,596. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Eversource Energy news, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 815 shares of Eversource Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.50, for a total transaction of $53,382.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $591,596. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Penelope M. Conner sold 500 shares of Eversource Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.94, for a total value of $32,470.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $639,464.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on ES shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Eversource Energy from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on Eversource Energy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Eversource Energy from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Eversource Energy from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Eversource Energy from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.93.

Eversource Energy Price Performance

NYSE ES traded up $0.87 during trading on Friday, hitting $67.53. 3,607,831 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,255,341. The company has a market capitalization of $24.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -57.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.59. Eversource Energy has a 12-month low of $52.03 and a 12-month high of $68.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.95. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Eversource Energy had a positive return on equity of 10.34% and a negative net margin of 0.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 EPS for the current year.

Eversource Energy 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.