Dominion downgraded at Evercore ISI, latest to step away on business review (NYSE:D)

Dominion Energy (NYSE:D) remains mired near nine-year lows, -2.2% in Thursday’s trading, after Evercore ISI becomes the latest firm to issue a downgrade, expecting shares will stay rangebound until the company’s Q4 earnings call in February that likely will include findings from the “top-to-bottom” business review.

Cutting its rating to In-Line from Outperform with a $78 price target, Evercore believes Dominion (D) could “take actions to modify the regulatory construct in Virginia to address investor concerns around the triennial review/ over earnings risk ($0.40-$0.45 annual EPS)” as part of the review process.

Evercore said it met recently with management at the EEI conference in Florida, where the company reiterated its view that relative stock performance in recent years has been disappointing despite delivering results and achieving constructive regulatory outcomes.

Dominion (D) has been dinged by at least four analyst cuts since the business review announcement, including from J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse and Wolfe Research.

Anticipating an earnings “reset” from the business review, Bank of America recently downgraded shares by two notches to Underperform from Buy.