PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Lowered to Neutral Rating by UBS Group

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) was downgraded by equities researchers at UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Finviz reports. They currently have a $19.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $22.00. UBS Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.50% from the stock’s current price.

PCG has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Guggenheim downgraded PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays decreased their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho increased their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded PG&E from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $16.50 in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.95.

PG&E Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of PCG opened at $17.20 on Wednesday. PG&E has a 52 week low of $14.99 and a 52 week high of $21.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.95, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.25 and a 200-day moving average of $18.83.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $232,770.24. This represents a 75.39 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total value of $532,368.77. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 183,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. This represents a 15.05 % 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 company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PG&E

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Czech National Bank lifted its position in PG&E by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 474,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after acquiring an additional 38,590 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of PG&E by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,974,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,837,000 after buying an additional 148,860 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position 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. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PG&E in the 4th quarter worth approximately $514,000. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PG&E in the 4th quarter worth approximately $466,000. Institutional investors 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.