Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stake in Pinnacle West Capital Co. (NYSE:PNW)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pinnacle West Capital Co. (NYSE:PNW) by 22.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 833 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Pinnacle West Capital were worth $349,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Pinnacle West Capital by 97.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,851,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $960,425,000 after acquiring an additional 6,344,121 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Pinnacle West Capital by 72.7% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,719,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $502,139,000 after purchasing an additional 2,828,450 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in Pinnacle West Capital during the first quarter valued at approximately $198,409,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Pinnacle West Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $112,914,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Pinnacle West Capital by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,205,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $86,625,000 after buying an additional 29,767 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PNW shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Pinnacle West Capital from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on Pinnacle West Capital from $81.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Pinnacle West Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $83.50 in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Pinnacle West Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Pinnacle West Capital from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.95.

Pinnacle West Capital Stock Performance

NYSE:PNW opened at $91.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.66. Pinnacle West Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $65.20 and a fifty-two week high of $91.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.50. The firm has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.52.

Pinnacle West Capital (NYSE:PNW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.45. Pinnacle West Capital had a net margin of 12.65% and a return on equity of 9.75%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Pinnacle West Capital Co. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Pinnacle West Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. Pinnacle West Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pinnacle West Capital

In other news, EVP Robert Edgar Smith sold 4,950 shares of Pinnacle West Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.80, for a total value of $424,710.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $548,862.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pinnacle West Capital Company Profile

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, through its subsidiary, provides retail and wholesale electric services primarily in the state of Arizona. The company engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity using coal, nuclear, gas, oil, and solar generating facilities. Its transmission facilities include overhead lines and underground lines; and distribution facilities consist of overhead lines and underground primary cables.