CoreFirst Bank & Trust Makes New $73,000 Investment in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 864 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $73,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 27.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 65.3% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 26,867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,270,000 after buying an additional 10,610 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in the third quarter worth about $2,860,000. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI purchased a new stake in Public Service Enterprise Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,565,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Public Service Enterprise Group by 36.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 96,118 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,575,000 after acquiring an additional 25,503 shares in the last quarter. 73.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Public Service Enterprise Group from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Public Service Enterprise Group from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays lowered Public Service Enterprise Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered 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 report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.65.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Performance

NYSE:PEG opened at $81.51 on Wednesday. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $64.03 and a fifty-two week high of $95.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $83.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.60.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. Public Service Enterprise Group had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 19.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Public Service Enterprise Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Public Service Enterprise Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,536,332.10. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Public Service Enterprise Group Profile

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.