Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd Invests $448,000 in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new stake in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 5,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 125.3% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,384,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $285,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882,667 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,401,024 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $481,825,000 after buying an additional 877,345 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Public Service Enterprise Group by 376.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 810,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,321,000 after buying an additional 640,485 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 103.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 950,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,313,000 after acquiring an additional 483,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 179.5% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 706,884 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,061,000 after buying an additional 453,985 shares during the period. 73.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PEG shares. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $98.00 target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Public Service Enterprise Group from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays downgraded Public Service Enterprise Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Public Service Enterprise Group from $73.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.50.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:PEG opened at $82.92 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $84.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.03. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $59.67 and a 52-week high of $95.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. This is a positive change from Public Service Enterprise Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Public Service Enterprise Group’s payout ratio is presently 71.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Public Service Enterprise Group news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of Public Service Enterprise Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.10, for a total transaction of $114,511.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.57% 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.