First Trust Advisors LP Buys 8,162 Shares of National Grid Transco, PLC $NGG

First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of National Grid Transco, PLC (NYSE:NGG) by 44.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 26,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,162 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in National Grid Transco were worth $2,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Milford Funds Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of National Grid Transco in the fourth quarter worth $183,208,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in National Grid Transco by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,596,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $342,017,000 after buying an additional 814,248 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP bought a new position in National Grid Transco in the 4th quarter worth $60,372,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in National Grid Transco by 20.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,671,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,395,000 after buying an additional 282,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in National Grid Transco during the first quarter valued at about $21,277,000. 4.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NGG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered National Grid Transco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of National Grid Transco in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of National Grid Transco in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of National Grid Transco in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded National Grid Transco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $85.50.

National Grid Transco Stock Up 0.6%

NGG stock opened at $80.91 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $81.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.29. National Grid Transco, PLC has a fifty-two week low of $67.51 and a fifty-two week high of $94.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

National Grid Transco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $2.1738 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a yield of 533.0%.

National Grid Transco Profile

National Grid Transco (NYSE: NGG) is a utility company focused on the transmission and distribution of electricity and natural gas. The company builds, owns, operates and maintains large-scale energy infrastructure, including high-voltage electricity transmission lines, electricity distribution networks and high-pressure gas pipelines. Its core activities center on providing safe, reliable delivery of energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers while meeting regulatory requirements across its service territories.

Services provided by National Grid Transco encompass network operation and maintenance, system balancing and control, metering and connections, and capital investment in grid modernization and reliability projects.