Public Service Enterprise Group PEG recently announced that its board of directors has approved a 5% increase in its quarterly dividend rate. The company’s revised quarterly dividend will be 63 cents, payable on or before March 31, 2025, to shareholders of record at the close of the business on March 10, 2025.

The recent increase represents the company’s 14th consecutive annual dividend hike. Following this hike, the company’s new annualized dividend rate is $2.52 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3%, based on its share price of $83.88 as of Feb. 13, 2025. The company’s current dividend yield is better than the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s 1.19%.

Can Public Service Enterprise Sustain Dividend Hikes?
 

Meaningful returns on a company's investments enable it to compensate its shareholders. Public Service Enterprise Group has been making strategic investments in infrastructure modernization and energy efficiency initiatives. Resultantly, the company has been successful in paying dividends on a steady basis for the past 118 years, driven by its solid financial position, diverse business mix and infrastructural development.

PEG expects to invest $18-$21 billion between 2024 and 2028 to boost its transmission and distribution infrastructure and expand its clean energy programs, enhancing the resiliency of its infrastructure and customer reliability. These investments will enable the company to create strong cash flows, resulting in attractive returns for its shareholders in the form of healthy dividend payouts.

For 2024-2028, PEG is committed to delivering 5-7% earnings per share growth. This confirms its financial ability through robust earnings and should allow it to reward its shareholders with consistent dividend hikes, like the latest one.

Other Utility Companies’ Recent Dividend Hikes
 

Companies involved in utility services generally have stable operations and earnings. Consistent performance, regulated returns and the ability to generate strong cash flows allow utilities to reward shareholders with regular dividend hikes. A few utilities, among others, have been mentioned below, who have decided to share more profits with their shareholders in the form of dividend hikes.

On Jan. 29, 2025, Eversource Energy ES announced that its board of directors approved a 5.2% hike in its quarterly dividend to 75.25 cents per share.

Eversource boasts a long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate of 5.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ES’ 2025 sales implies an improvement of 8.5% from the prior-year figure.

On Jan. 29, 2025, Unitil Corporation UTL announced that its board of directors approved a 5.9% hike in its quarterly dividend to 45 cents per share.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UTL’s 2025 sales implies an improvement of 12.8% from the prior-year figure. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UTL’s 2025 earnings suggests an improvement of 3.7% from the prior-year figure.

On Jan. 23, 2025, NiSource Inc. NI announced that its board of directors approved a 5.7% hike in its quarterly dividend to 28 cents per share.

NiSource boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NI’s 2025 sales implies an improvement of 11.2% from the prior-year figure.

PEG Stock Price Movement
 

In the past six months, PEG shares have rallied 4.2% compared with the industry’s growth of 2.7%.

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PEG’s Zacks Rank
 

Public Service Enterprise Group currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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NiSource, Inc (NI) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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