Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 20,093 PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 20,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PG&E in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in PG&E in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in PG&E during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of PG&E in the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of PG&E during the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 59,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.08, for a total value of $1,007,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,515,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,889,471.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of PG&E from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on PG&E from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of PG&E from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PG&E currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.11.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PCG opened at $17.84 on Thursday. PG&E Co. has a 1 year low of $14.71 and a 1 year high of $18.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.93 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s 50-day moving average is $16.73 and its 200 day moving average is $16.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.02. PG&E had a return on equity of 11.32% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.57%.

PG&E Profile

PG&E Corporation, through its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, engages in the sale and delivery of electricity and natural gas to customers in northern and central California, the United States. It generates electricity using nuclear, hydroelectric, fossil fuel-fired, fuel cell, and photovoltaic sources.