Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR) saw a large growth in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,270,000 shares, a growth of 12.4% from the June 30th total of 1,130,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 812,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Avangrid by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Avangrid by 163.9% during the 1st quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. Harrington Investments INC boosted its position in shares of Avangrid by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Harrington Investments INC now owns 26,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of Avangrid by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 70,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,264,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in Avangrid by 37.1% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,150 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Avangrid in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.67.

Avangrid Price Performance

AGR traded up $0.04 during trading on Monday, reaching $35.54. 470,642 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 868,663. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.52. Avangrid has a 12-month low of $27.46 and a 12-month high of $37.84. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.58. The company has a market cap of $13.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.37, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.55.

Avangrid (NYSE:AGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.22. Avangrid had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 4.87%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Avangrid will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

Avangrid Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%. Avangrid’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.19%.

Avangrid Company Profile

Avangrid, Inc, an energy services holding company, engages in the regulated energy transmission and distribution, and renewable energy generation businesses in the United States. The company operates through Networks and Renewables segments. It is involved in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity; and distribution, transportation, and sale of natural gas.