Howard Capital Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 3,308 Pinnacle West Capital Co. (NYSE:PNW)

Howard Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pinnacle West Capital Co. (NYSE:PNW) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Pinnacle West Capital by 261.2% during the 3rd quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 92,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,178,000 after acquiring an additional 66,755 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Pinnacle West Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,235,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Pinnacle West Capital by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 139,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,336,000 after acquiring an additional 9,993 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP lifted its stake in Pinnacle West Capital by 170.1% during the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 30,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,686,000 after acquiring an additional 19,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Pinnacle West Capital by 47.2% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $995,000 after acquiring an additional 3,758 shares in the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pinnacle West Capital Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Pinnacle West Capital stock opened at $93.11 on Wednesday. Pinnacle West Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $66.77 and a 52-week high of $95.42. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Pinnacle West Capital (NYSE:PNW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. Pinnacle West Capital had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 12.26%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Pinnacle West Capital Co. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Pinnacle West Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.895 per share. This represents a $3.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Pinnacle West Capital’s payout ratio is presently 67.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PNW. Citigroup lifted their target price on Pinnacle West Capital from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Pinnacle West Capital from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays cut Pinnacle West Capital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $93.00 to $91.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp upgraded Pinnacle West Capital from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $101.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Pinnacle West Capital from $106.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pinnacle West Capital presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.21.

Pinnacle West Capital 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.