Zacks Research Upgrades National Grid Transco (NYSE:NGG) to “Strong-Buy”

National Grid Transco (NYSE:NGG) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

NGG has been the subject of several other reports. National Bankshares set a $85.50 target price on National Grid Transco in a report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of National Grid Transco in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane lowered National Grid Transco from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of National Grid Transco in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of National Grid Transco in a report on Thursday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.80.

National Grid Transco Stock Up 0.4%

National Grid Transco stock opened at $88.75 on Monday. National Grid Transco has a fifty-two week low of $59.35 and a fifty-two week high of $89.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.54.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On National Grid Transco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of National Grid Transco by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,751,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $345,292,000 after buying an additional 155,118 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in National Grid Transco by 2.1% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,200,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $238,112,000 after buying an additional 66,456 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of National Grid Transco by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 2,187,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $169,192,000 after purchasing an additional 176,215 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of National Grid Transco by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,101,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $162,546,000 after buying an additional 18,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in National Grid Transco by 2.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,089,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $151,855,000 after purchasing an additional 48,048 shares in the last quarter. 4.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

National Grid Transco Company 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.