Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Wells Fargo & Company

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) had its target price trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $89.00 to $87.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup decreased their price target on Public Service Enterprise Group from $91.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $92.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Argus cut their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $90.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $99.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.32.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Down 0.2%

Public Service Enterprise Group stock opened at $73.08 on Tuesday. Public Service Enterprise Group has a twelve month low of $66.15 and a twelve month high of $87.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.48.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.19 billion. Public Service Enterprise Group had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Public Service Enterprise Group will post 4.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Richard T. Thigpen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.56, for a total value of $596,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 20,970 shares in the company, valued at $1,563,523.20. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 2,083 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.60, for a total transaction of $153,308.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 276,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,349,443.20. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,166 shares of company stock worth $890,350. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,366,570,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 1.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,481,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,392,713,000 after purchasing an additional 399,191 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Public Service Enterprise Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,207,400,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Public Service Enterprise Group during the second quarter worth approximately $554,994,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 71.6% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,962,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $321,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653,832 shares during the last quarter. 73.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Public Service Enterprise Group

Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE: PEG), commonly known as PSEG, is an energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Through its subsidiaries, the company is primarily involved in electric and natural gas utility operations, power generation, and related energy services.

Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSE&G), PSEG’s principal utility subsidiary, serves residential, commercial, and industrial customers throughout New Jersey. Its activities include the transmission and distribution of electricity, the distribution of natural gas, energy-efficiency programs, and infrastructure modernization.