1,666,700 Shares in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Purchased by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,666,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $33,669,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in 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 period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in PG&E by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in PG&E by 746.0% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 4,819 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in PG&E in the fourth quarter worth about $111,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in PG&E in the third quarter worth about $115,000. 78.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCG has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Guggenheim lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.05.

PG&E Stock Performance

PCG opened at $16.91 on Friday. PG&E Co. has a 52-week low of $14.99 and a 52-week high of $21.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The company has a market cap of $45.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $16.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.78.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.70%.

PG&E Profile

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.