Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG)

Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 4,144 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 116% compared to the average volume of 1,918 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim raised shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Public Service Enterprise Group from $78.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Public Service Enterprise Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on Public Service Enterprise Group from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.85.

Insider Activity at Public Service Enterprise Group

In other Public Service Enterprise Group news, EVP Tamara Louise Linde sold 19,127 shares of Public Service Enterprise Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.26, for a total transaction of $1,535,133.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,419,476.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Tamara Louise Linde sold 19,127 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.26, for a total value of $1,535,133.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 67,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,419,476.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of Public Service Enterprise Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.69, for a total value of $111,190.82. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 148,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,014,095.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,068 shares of company stock valued at $2,406,965 over the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Public Service Enterprise Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 376,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,047,000 after buying an additional 53,577 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Public Service Enterprise Group by 28.0% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 70,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,227,000 after purchasing an additional 15,505 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 72.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 20,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,532,000 after purchasing an additional 8,723 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 8.3% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 94,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,995,000 after purchasing an additional 7,235 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 145.5% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 64,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,303,000 after purchasing an additional 38,188 shares in the last quarter. 73.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Public Service Enterprise Group Price Performance

PEG traded up $1.02 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $87.78. 725,985 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,817,379. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.67. Public Service Enterprise Group has a 52-week low of $53.71 and a 52-week high of $87.85. The company has a market capitalization of $43.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. Public Service Enterprise Group had a net margin of 16.12% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Public Service Enterprise Group will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. Public Service Enterprise Group’s payout ratio is 66.48%.

Public Service Enterprise Group Company 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.