PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.80.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PCG shares. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

PG&E Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of PCG stock opened at $20.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. PG&E has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $21.72. The stock has a market cap of $53.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.43.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.24 earnings per share. PG&E’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that PG&E will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.025 dividend. This is an increase from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. PG&E’s payout ratio is presently 7.81%.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other PG&E news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total transaction of $1,147,766.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of PG&E

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PCG. Centre Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 14,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of PG&E by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 3,163 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 626 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,722,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,816,000 after acquiring an additional 169,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,116,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $346,443,000 after acquiring an additional 681,369 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Company Profile

PG&E Corporation, through its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, engages in the sale and delivery of electricity and natural gas to customers in northern and central California, the United States. It generates electricity using nuclear, hydroelectric, fossil fuel-fired, fuel cell, and photovoltaic sources.