PSEG Raises Stock Dividends; CEO ‘Pleased’ With Cash Return

NEWARK, NJ — New Jersey's largest provider of electric and natural gas service has bumped up its common stock dividend for the first quarter of 2022.

Earlier this week, PSE&G – which has a headquarters in Newark – declared a quarterly common stock dividend for the first quarter of 2022 of $0.54 per share payable on March 31, 2022 to shareholders of record on March 10, 2022.

The move, which was announced during a September investor conference, represents a $0.03 per share, or 5.9 percent increase in the company’s quarterly common stock dividend. It brings the indicative annual dividend rate to $2.16 per share, PSE&G stated.

“We are pleased to be able to increase the cash return to our shareholders,” Chair and CEO Ralph Izzo said.

“This latest increase represents the 18th increase in the common dividend in the past 19 years, and marks our 115th consecutive year of paying a common dividend to shareholders, which is an achievement attained by very few companies,” Izzo said.

Shares of PSE&G inched 0.56 percent higher to $64.79 on Wednesday. PSE&G stock has gained 10.9 percent over the past 12 months, while the utilities ETF has tacked on 6.2 percent and the S&P 500 has rallied 13.2 percent, MarketWatch reported.

PSE&G, a publicly traded, diversified energy company with about 13,000 employees, is a Fortune 500 company included in the S&P 500 Index, and has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for North America for 12 consecutive years. According to its website, the company is New Jersey's largest provider of electric and natural gas service, serving 2.3 million electric customers and 1.9 million gas customers.

In recent years, the company has made two big moves into clean energy.

Last year, PSE&G announced it was selling its massive fossil-generating portfolio of natural gas-fired power plants for nearly $2 billion. At the time, Izzo said the move would help put PSE&G on track to realize a “more predictable earnings profile.”

“Further, this transaction continues our evolution toward a clean energy, infrastructure-focused company that will enable our increasingly low-carbon economy,” Izzo said.

• See related article: PSEG To Sell $2 Billion 'Fossil Generating Portfolio'

And in 2020, PSE&G announced that it’s making a big investment in an offshore "wind farm" that's expected to power more than half a million New Jersey homes.

• See related article: PSE&G Invests In Massive 'Wind Farm' Off New Jersey Coast

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