PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.05.

PCG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group cut PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In other PG&E news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total transaction of $532,368.77. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. This trade represents a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,770.24. This trade represents a 75.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PG&E

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,132,964,000 after purchasing an additional 6,151,233 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in PG&E by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 176,839,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,496,115,000 after acquiring an additional 8,604,396 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 5,191,463 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 104,846,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,072,824,000 after acquiring an additional 2,936,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PG&E by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,988,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,046,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151,494 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PG&E Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of PCG stock opened at $17.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. PG&E has a 12-month low of $14.99 and a 12-month high of $21.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.73.

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

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

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.