Altrius Capital Management Inc Sells 1,000 Shares of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Altrius Capital Management Inc cut its stake in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PEG. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Public Service Enterprise Group by 0.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,829,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,051,744,000 after purchasing an additional 49,285 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 19.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,401,024 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $481,825,000 after purchasing an additional 877,345 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 125.3% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,384,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $285,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882,667 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Public Service Enterprise Group by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,951,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $263,315,000 after purchasing an additional 19,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 5.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,637,882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,194,000 after buying an additional 147,903 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on PEG shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $98.00 price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $73.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $88.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.50.

Public Service Enterprise Group Price Performance

Shares of Public Service Enterprise Group stock opened at $80.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a one year low of $61.36 and a one year high of $95.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.99.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.01. Public Service Enterprise Group had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Public Service Enterprise Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Public Service Enterprise Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.19%.

Insider Activity at Public Service Enterprise Group

In other news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.10, for a total value of $114,511.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,536,332.10. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.