Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Trims Stake in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lessened its stake in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 225 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $2,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Old Port Advisors raised its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 23,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,099,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC now owns 9,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA boosted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 1.3% in the third 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. Cigna Investments Inc. New grew its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 5,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 29,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,619,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PEG. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $98.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.17.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Down 2.4 %

Public Service Enterprise Group stock opened at $88.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.75. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $56.85 and a twelve month high of $95.22.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. Public Service Enterprise Group had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 10.70%. Public Service Enterprise Group’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Public Service Enterprise Group’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Public Service Enterprise Group

In other Public Service Enterprise Group news, 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard T. Thigpen sold 5,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.95, for a total transaction of $518,905.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 25,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,271,660.55. This represents a 18.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,234 shares of company stock valued at $722,037. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.