Wedmont Private Capital Acquires 649 Shares of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 649 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $59,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 325.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares during the period. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $66,000. 73.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Public Service Enterprise Group

In other news, COO Kim C. Hanemann sold 956 shares of Public Service Enterprise Group stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 70,011 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,290.99. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Richard T. Thigpen sold 5,900 shares of Public Service Enterprise Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.95, for a total transaction of $518,905.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 25,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,271,660.55. This represents a 18.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,234 shares of company stock worth $722,037 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays cut 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, UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.17.

Public Service Enterprise Group Trading Up 1.4 %

PEG opened at $86.28 on Thursday. 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 market capitalization of $42.99 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.65. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $56.85 and a 1-year high of $95.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $87.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.21.

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 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 firm had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. Public Service Enterprise Group’s dividend payout ratio is 58.97%.

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.