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

Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $18.78.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PCG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of PG&E from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of PG&E from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG opened at $16.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $35.20 billion, a PE ratio of 15.69 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.78. PG&E has a one year low of $14.71 and a one year high of $18.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $16.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.83.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The utilities provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.84% and a net margin of 9.24%. The business had revenue of $7.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that PG&E will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is 3.81%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PG&E

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PG&E in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $394,285,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in PG&E by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 268,407,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,329,416,000 after purchasing an additional 21,731,911 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in PG&E by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 62,502,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,010,660,000 after buying an additional 18,984,092 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 27.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 83,522,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,347,215,000 after acquiring an additional 18,180,432 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 12.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 134,314,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,171,873,000 after acquiring an additional 15,210,198 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PG&E Company 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.