Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $1.37 Million Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 37.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 67,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,585 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in PG&E were worth $1,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in PG&E in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,862,000. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in PG&E by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 59,799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,207,000 after acquiring an additional 14,786 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 30,737 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PG&E Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE:PCG opened at $16.33 on Friday. PG&E Co. has a 1-year low of $14.99 and a 1-year high of $21.72. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $17.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm 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 (NYSE:PCG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PCG. Guggenheim cut PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley cut PG&E from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $20.00 to $16.50 in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group decreased their price target on PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.23.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In other news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris acquired 6,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at $232,770.24. This represents a 75.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,460,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.