Magnetar Financial LLC Acquires New Position in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 35,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,984,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 101.5% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 29,384 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after acquiring an additional 14,800 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Fox Hill Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management now owns 19,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,613,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Enhancing Capital LLC purchased a new position in Public Service Enterprise Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $676,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 78,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,628,000 after purchasing an additional 2,736 shares in the last quarter. 73.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of Public Service Enterprise Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.91, for a total transaction of $117,005.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 144,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,245,040.92. This trade represents a 0.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Public Service Enterprise Group from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays cut Public Service Enterprise Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut Public Service Enterprise Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $82.50 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Public Service Enterprise Group from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.65.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Performance

NYSE PEG opened at $83.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $41.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.60. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $83.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.01. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $63.68 and a fifty-two week high of $95.22.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. This is an increase from Public Service Enterprise Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Public Service Enterprise Group’s payout ratio is currently 71.19%.

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.