PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Short Interest Up 30.8% in March

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 44,640,000 shares, an increase of 30.8% from the February 28th total of 34,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 22,790,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the business’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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $232,770.24. This trade represents a 75.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PG&E

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its position in PG&E by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 20,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 2,878 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 27,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $544,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of PG&E during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,551,000. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in PG&E during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,493,000. Finally, Atom Investors LP boosted its stake in PG&E by 13.1% during the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 61,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,212,000 after acquiring an additional 7,096 shares in the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PG&E Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of PCG stock traded up $0.15 on Wednesday, hitting $17.42. 27,474,659 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,408,770. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.64. PG&E has a one year low of $14.99 and a one year high of $21.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued 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 return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that PG&E will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PCG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities 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, the company currently 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.