PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Stock Rating Lowered by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut shares of PG&E (NYSE:PCG) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $16.50 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $20.00.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on PG&E in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.05.

PG&E Stock Down 3.5 %

PG&E stock opened at $15.30 on Friday. PG&E has a fifty-two week low of $14.99 and a fifty-two week high of $21.72. 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 $40.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.95, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.19.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that PG&E will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 value of $1,147,766.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PG&E

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings 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 worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 61.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 77.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its holdings in PG&E by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 4,271 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PG&E by 98.5% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 2,154 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

About PG&E

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.