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Reasons to Add Eversource Energy (ES) to Your Portfolio Now

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Eversource Energy’s (ES - Free Report) ongoing systematic investments in transmission and distribution networks, acquisitions and the expansion of renewable operations, along with stable financial conditions, will drive its performance in the long run.

Let’s focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock a strong investment pick at the moment. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Growth Projection & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 earnings has moved up by 0.2% in the past 60 days to $4.12 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings has moved up by 0.5% in the past 60 days to $4.39 per share.

Eversource Energy’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth is projected at 6.2%.

ES delivered an average earnings surprise of 0.1% in the last four quarters.

Dividend

Eversource Energy has a long history of dividend payments and has paid dividends to shareholders consecutively since 1966. The strong performance of the company enables it to reward shareholders through dividend hikes. The new quarterly dividend for 2022 is 64 cents per share, representing a 6.7% increase from 2021. Currently, Eversource Energy’s dividend yield is 3.1%, better than the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s average of 1.7%.

Stable Investments

Eversource Energy is currently focused on upgrading electric distribution and transmission infrastructure. Eversource Energy forecasts capital investments of $18.1 billion within the 2022-2026 period. Of the total, ES plans to invest nearly $11.6 billion in the electric and natural distribution network and $4.6 billion in the electric transmission segment in the same period. Eversource Energy also diversified its operations in the water business and plans to make investments of $0.9 billion from 2022 to 2026 in the water distribution business to further strengthen operations and serve the expanding customer base more efficiently.

Expanding Operations in Water Industry

Given the impressive prospects of the water industry, Eversource Energy is trying to expand the water business through inorganic ways. In March 2022, ES’ unit, Aquarion Company, entered into an agreement to acquire The Torrington Water Company (TWC) in Connecticut. This acquisition will expand the water distribution business and add nearly 10,100 customers to its customer base.

Debt Position

The Debt to Capital of Eversource Energy at the end of the first quarter of 2022 was 57.9% compared with the industry average of 58.4%. This indicates that the company is using comparatively lower debts to manage the business compared with peers.

Eversource Energy’s times interest earned ratio at the end of the first quarter improved to 3.8 from 3.7 in the last reported quarter. A strong ratio indicates that the utility will be able to meet debt obligations in the near future without any difficulties.

Price Performance

In the past month, shares of Eversource Energy have declined 0.7%, narrower than the industry’s decline of 5.9%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other similar-ranked stocks from the same sector include Sempra Energy (SRE - Free Report) , Northwest Natural Holding Company (NWN - Free Report) and American Electric Power (AEP - Free Report) .

The long-term earnings growth of Sempra Energy, Northwest Natural and American Electric Power is projected at 5.6%, 4.7% and 6.2%, respectively.

Sempra Energy, Northwest Natural and American Electric Power delivered an average earnings surprise of 2.8%, 21.8% and 2.4%, respectively, in the last four quarters.

In the past month, SRE, NWN and AEP shares have surged 0.1%, 1.1% and 1.4%, respectively.

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