PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Given New $23.00 Price Target at Barclays

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) had its target price cut by Barclays from $24.00 to $23.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PG&E has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.55.

PG&E Price Performance

PCG stock opened at $16.29 on Monday. PG&E has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $21.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $19.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $42.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.98.

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

PG&E Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PCG. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of PG&E in the second quarter worth about $2,565,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in PG&E by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,420,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,801,000 after acquiring an additional 160,465 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in PG&E by 93.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,249,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,808,000 after acquiring an additional 602,601 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in PG&E during the 2nd quarter worth about $400,000. Finally, Creative Planning grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.