Guggenheim Reaffirms Buy Rating for Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG)

Guggenheim restated their buy rating on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $98.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on PEG. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of 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. Barclays lowered shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Public Service Enterprise Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.50.

Public Service Enterprise Group Price Performance

PEG stock opened at $81.09 on Wednesday. Public Service Enterprise Group has a 12 month low of $61.48 and a 12 month high of $95.22. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $84.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.99. The stock has a market cap of $40.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Public Service Enterprise Group will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Public Service Enterprise Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Public Service Enterprise Group’s payout ratio is 71.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.10, for a total transaction of $114,511.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,791 shares in the company, valued at $10,536,332.10. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PEG. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 87,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,403,000 after purchasing an additional 18,627 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Public Service Enterprise Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,244,000. Cullen Investment Group LTD. grew its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 65.3% during the 4th quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 26,867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,270,000 after purchasing an additional 10,610 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Public Service Enterprise Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,860,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI purchased a new stake in Public Service Enterprise Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,565,000. Institutional investors 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.