PG&E (NYSE:PCG) PT Lowered to $17.00

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $18.00 to $17.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 4.01% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of PG&E from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $19.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of PG&E from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.11.

PG&E Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of PCG stock traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $17.71. The stock had a trading volume of 8,712,630 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,695,343. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $17.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.25. PG&E has a 52-week low of $14.71 and a 52-week high of $18.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.02. PG&E had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 11.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that PG&E will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 59,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.08, for a total value of $1,007,720.00. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in PG&E by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 282,332,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,731,888,000 after purchasing an additional 5,635,693 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in PG&E by 1.8% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 126,126,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,113,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176,931 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in PG&E by 4.4% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 121,159,974 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,030,641,000 after acquiring an additional 5,066,183 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in PG&E by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 84,516,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,523,828,000 after acquiring an additional 993,923 shares during the period. Finally, Third Point LLC raised its position in PG&E by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Third Point LLC now owns 57,860,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,043,216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. 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.