Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) Upgraded at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $97.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $86.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $86.00 to $83.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $82.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $101.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Public Service Enterprise Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.46.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of Public Service Enterprise Group stock opened at $81.58 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $80.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Public Service Enterprise Group has a twelve month low of $73.72 and a twelve month high of $95.22. The stock has a market cap of $40.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.48.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.15 billion. Public Service Enterprise Group had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 11.80%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Public Service Enterprise Group will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Public Service Enterprise Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.85%.

Insider Activity at Public Service Enterprise Group

In other Public Service Enterprise Group news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,387 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.12, for a total value of $115,287.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 218,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,147,423.36. This trade represents a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PEG. Centre Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 3.2% during the first quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 3,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 2.8% during the first quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 0.3% during the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 42,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,523,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 2.2% during the first quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 6,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $507,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.34% of the company’s stock.

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.