Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Has $925,000 Holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Center for Financial Planning Inc. lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 4,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 5,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 9,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $842,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 4,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 35,384 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,990,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Public Service Enterprise Group news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $73.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Public Service Enterprise Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.83.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Performance

NYSE PEG opened at $79.58 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $39.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.55, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.98. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $63.31 and a twelve month 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. Public Service Enterprise Group had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, research 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. This is a boost from Public Service Enterprise Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Public Service Enterprise Group’s dividend 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.