Ascent Group LLC Sells 1,323 Shares of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Ascent Group LLC cut its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) by 4.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 31,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,323 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $2,817,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PEG. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 155.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 120,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,072,000 after purchasing an additional 73,585 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 66.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 23,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 9,388 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 50.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 116.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,809 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 27.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. 73.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Tamara Louise Linde sold 9,564 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.61, for a total value of $866,594.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 48,397 shares in the company, valued at $4,385,252.17. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Kim C. Hanemann sold 956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $86,126.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 70,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,290.99. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,361 shares of company stock valued at $2,356,562. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PEG. Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $62.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $98.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.08.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of PEG opened at $92.30 on Tuesday. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a one year low of $56.85 and a one year high of $95.22. The company has a market cap of $45.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.62. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.44.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. Public Service Enterprise Group had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The business had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. 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 2.60%. Public Service Enterprise Group’s payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

Public Service Enterprise Group Profile

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.