PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Receives $19.11 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.11.

PCG has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PG&E from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of PG&E from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st.

PG&E Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE PCG opened at $17.67 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.96. PG&E has a 12-month low of $14.71 and a 12-month high of $18.32. The stock has a market cap of $50.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78 and a beta of 1.26.

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

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PG&E

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in PG&E in the 4th quarter valued at $394,285,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 21,731,911 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in PG&E by 27.8% in 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 last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in PG&E during the fourth quarter valued at about $142,612,000. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in PG&E by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 116,093,791 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,093,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,681,566 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

About PG&E

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.