Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Has $634,000 Stock Position in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 672 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Public Service Enterprise Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in Public Service Enterprise Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on PEG. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Public Service Enterprise Group from $73.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Public Service Enterprise Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.88, for a total transaction of $114,208.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 221,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,372,009.60. This represents a 0.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Performance

Shares of Public Service Enterprise Group stock opened at $77.83 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $64.03 and a 12 month high of $95.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.60.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change 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%.

Public Service Enterprise Group Company 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.