CENTRAL TRUST Co Increases Stake in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) by 25.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 755 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 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 valued at $7,403,000 after purchasing an additional 18,627 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in Public Service Enterprise Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,244,000. Cullen Investment Group LTD. lifted its stake 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 valued at $2,270,000 after acquiring an additional 10,610 shares during the period. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Public Service Enterprise Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,860,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI bought a new position in Public Service Enterprise Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,565,000. 73.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Public Service Enterprise Group news, SVP Richard T. Thigpen sold 5,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.95, for a total transaction of $518,905.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 25,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,271,660.55. This trade represents a 18.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,536,332.10. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,612 shares of company stock valued at $836,549. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Public Service Enterprise Group Trading Down 0.1 %

Public Service Enterprise Group stock opened at $83.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $86.78 and a 200 day moving average of $85.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $57.24 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.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. Public Service Enterprise Group had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. Public Service Enterprise Group’s dividend payout ratio is 58.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PEG shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $73.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Five 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.83.

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.