Pitcairn Co. Cuts Holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Pitcairn Co. lessened its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) by 24.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,391 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEG. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 36.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 96,118 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,575,000 after purchasing an additional 25,503 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 7.1% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 11,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $997,000 after buying an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Keyes Stange & Wooten Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 38.0% during the third quarter. Keyes Stange & Wooten Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 1,365 shares in the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Public Service Enterprise Group during the third quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. increased its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 77.2% in the third quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 13,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,170,000 after acquiring an additional 5,713 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PEG. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Public Service Enterprise Group from $62.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Public Service Enterprise Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Public Service Enterprise Group from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.69.

Public Service Enterprise Group Price Performance

Shares of PEG stock opened at $94.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $88.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.01. The firm has a market cap of $47.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.61. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $56.85 and a 1-year high of $94.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.03. Public Service Enterprise Group had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 19.48%. The business had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Public Service Enterprise Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.97%.

Insider Activity at Public Service Enterprise Group

In other news, EVP Tamara Louise Linde sold 9,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.54, for a total transaction of $760,641.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,610,217.94. This represents a 14.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Kim C. Hanemann sold 956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $86,126.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 70,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,290.99. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,739 shares of company stock valued at $2,467,753. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

About Public Service Enterprise Group

Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, operates in electric and gas utility business in the United States. It operates through PSE&G and PSEG Power segments. The PSE&G segment transmits electricity; distributes electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers; and appliance services and repairs to customers through its service territory, as well as invests in solar generation projects, and energy efficiency and related programs.