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

Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.23.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PCG shares. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Guggenheim cut PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded PG&E from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $16.50 in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In related news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total transaction of $1,147,766.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PG&E

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in PG&E by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,703,979 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,386,000 after buying an additional 314,119 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of PG&E in the fourth quarter worth about $253,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in PG&E in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,823,000. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in PG&E during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in PG&E during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,649,000. 78.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PG&E Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of PG&E stock opened at $16.33 on Monday. PG&E has a 1 year low of $14.99 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $17.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.05. The company has a market capitalization of $43.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99.

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

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. PG&E’s payout ratio is 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.