Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Boosts Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,052 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in PG&E were worth $851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCG. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of PG&E by 68.3% in 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. UMB Bank n.a. boosted 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 valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of PG&E by 746.0% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 4,819 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E during the fourth quarter worth about $111,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PG&E news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total transaction of $532,368.77. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. This represents a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $232,770.24. This trade 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 company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on PCG. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.05.

PG&E Stock Up 0.4 %

PCG stock opened at $17.26 on Wednesday. PG&E Co. has a one year low of $14.99 and a one year high of $21.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $16.21 and a 200-day moving average of $18.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04.

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

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.70%.

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.