Trust Co. of Vermont Cuts Holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG)

Trust Co. of Vermont reduced its position in Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 788 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Public Service Enterprise Group were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,734,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,809,000 after acquiring an additional 163,333 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 33.8% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 18,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 4,546 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in the 2nd quarter worth $214,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 18,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,364,000 after buying an additional 1,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. 73.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank lifted their price target on 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Public Service Enterprise Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $98.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.17.

Public Service Enterprise Group Price Performance

Public Service Enterprise Group stock opened at $88.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $43.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $87.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.36. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $56.85 and a 1 year high of $95.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.44 billion. Public Service Enterprise Group had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 19.48%. Public Service Enterprise Group’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Public Service Enterprise Group’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Kim C. Hanemann sold 956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $86,126.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 70,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,290.99. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard T. Thigpen sold 5,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.95, for a total value of $518,905.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 25,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,271,660.55. This represents a 18.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,234 shares of company stock valued at $722,037 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.