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

Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.55.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PCG. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on PG&E in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on 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 raised their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In related news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at $30,168,186.52. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in PG&E by 5.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 176,839,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,496,115,000 after purchasing an additional 8,604,396 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of PG&E by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,155,093,000 after buying an additional 5,191,463 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 104,846,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,072,824,000 after acquiring an additional 2,936,763 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,837,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $981,960,000 after purchasing an additional 536,914 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in PG&E by 6.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 30,255,039 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $598,142,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822,835 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:PCG opened at $15.79 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. PG&E has a 1 year low of $15.74 and a 1 year high of $21.72.

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

PG&E Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. PG&E’s payout ratio is currently 7.81%.

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.