Victory Capital Management Inc. Raises Stake in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) by 29.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 509,946 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 115,731 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $43,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Center for Financial Planning Inc. boosted its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 4,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $349,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in Public Service Enterprise Group by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 5,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA boosted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 9,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc. grew its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 4,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 35,384 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,990,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Public Service Enterprise Group

In related news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on PEG. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Public Service Enterprise Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank upped 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 research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered Public Service Enterprise Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.83.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Performance

Shares of PEG stock opened at $79.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.43, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $84.27 and a 200 day moving average of $86.03. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $63.31 and a 52 week high of $95.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.67 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is an increase from Public Service Enterprise Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Public Service Enterprise Group’s dividend payout ratio is 71.19%.

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.