Norges Bank Buys Shares of 29,317,415 PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 29,317,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $591,625,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.12% of PG&E as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in PG&E by 68.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of PG&E by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 746.0% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 4,819 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E in the 4th quarter worth $111,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of PG&E by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526 shares in the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of PCG stock opened at $16.98 on Friday. PG&E Co. has a twelve month low of $14.99 and a twelve month high of $21.72. The stock has a market cap of $45.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $16.21 and a 200 day moving average of $18.68. 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 (NYSE:PCG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PG&E Co. 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PCG shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Guggenheim lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PG&E presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.05.

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.