PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.05.

Several brokerages recently commented on PCG. Guggenheim downgraded PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lowered shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th.

PG&E Price Performance

PG&E stock opened at $17.15 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.21 and a 200-day moving average of $18.70. PG&E 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 firm has a market capitalization of $45.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.91, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The firm 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that PG&E will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris acquired 6,389 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $232,770.24. The trade was a 75.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PG&E

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

PG&E Company 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.