Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 17,654 Shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES - Free Report) by 4.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 413,874 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 17,654 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Eversource Energy worth $28,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Eversource Energy by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,954 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $404,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in Eversource Energy by 518.1% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 480,278 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,683,000 after purchasing an additional 402,574 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 13,849 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Eversource Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $270,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eversource Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $277,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ES shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Eversource Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank cut shares of Eversource Energy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector underperform" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Eversource Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Barclays upped their price objective on Eversource Energy from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Eversource Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $68.38.

Eversource Energy Stock Performance

NYSE ES traded up $0.10 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $57.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 552,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,376,967. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $62.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.06. Eversource Energy has a 12 month low of $52.09 and a 12 month high of $69.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.06 billion. Eversource Energy had a positive return on equity of 10.90% and a negative net margin of 4.73%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Eversource Energy will post 4.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eversource Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.715 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 18th. Eversource Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.