Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 16,672 PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 16,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PCG. Czech National Bank increased its position in PG&E by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 474,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after purchasing an additional 38,590 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of PG&E by 5.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,155,093,000 after buying an additional 5,191,463 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in PG&E by 259.6% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 61,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,223,000 after buying an additional 44,650 shares during the period. Scientech Research LLC bought a new stake in PG&E during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,122,000. Finally, Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 39.6% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 111,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,944,000 after acquiring an additional 31,573 shares during the period. 78.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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 shares were sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total value of $1,147,766.30. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PCG. UBS Group dropped their price target on PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Monday, January 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.64.

PG&E Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of PCG stock opened at $16.52 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $21.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $19.55 and its 200 day moving average is $19.43.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. PG&E’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.81%.

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.