Guggenheim Capital LLC Acquires 31,286 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its holdings in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 21.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 174,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 31,286 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in PG&E were worth $3,530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in PG&E by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,132,964,000 after acquiring an additional 6,151,233 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,988,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,046,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151,494 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PG&E during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $591,625,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in PG&E by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 17,385,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $350,842,000 after buying an additional 82,705 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in PG&E by 4.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,116,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,443,000 after buying an additional 681,369 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris acquired 6,389 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 $232,770.24. The trade was a 75.39 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 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 trade represents a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PCG shares. Guggenheim cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group downgraded shares of 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. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.95.

PG&E Trading Up 0.3 %

PCG opened at $17.23 on Friday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $16.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.35. The company has a market capitalization of $46.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.98, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.70. PG&E Co. has a 52 week low of $14.99 and a 52 week high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

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.