PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Receives $22.05 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.05.

Several analysts recently commented on PCG shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group downgraded PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total transaction of $532,368.77. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 183,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. This represents a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at $232,770.24. This trade represents a 75.39 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of PG&E

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of PG&E by 68.3% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 1,233.6% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,690 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in shares of PG&E by 563.0% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,627 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of PG&E by 61.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 4,271 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG stock opened at $17.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. PG&E has a 12-month low of $14.99 and a 12-month high of $21.72. The company has a market cap of $45.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.70.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that PG&E will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s payout ratio is 8.70%.

About PG&E

PG&E Corp. operates as a holding company, which engages in generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity and natural gas to customers. It specializes in energy, utility, power, gas, electricity, solar and sustainability. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Oakland, CA.