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

Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.23.

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut PG&E from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $16.50 in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG stock opened at $16.33 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99. PG&E has a one year low of $14.99 and a one year high of $21.72. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the purchase, the director now owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at $232,770.24. This trade represents a 75.39 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of PG&E by 1,233.6% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690 shares in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its stake in PG&E by 563.0% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in PG&E by 77.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.