Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Holdings in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 9.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,001,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,907,351 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in PG&E were worth $331,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in PG&E by 3.5% in the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of PG&E by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 22,458 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $392,000 after buying an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd grew its stake in PG&E by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 4,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in PG&E by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in PG&E by 8.0% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 12,363 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 917 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other PG&E news, VP Stephanie N. Williams sold 38,601 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.32, for a total transaction of $707,170.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $350,168.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on PCG shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America assumed coverage on PG&E in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their target price on PG&E from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised PG&E from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on PG&E from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.55.

PG&E Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:PCG opened at $19.82 on Friday. PG&E Co. has a 52-week low of $14.71 and a 52-week high of $20.65. The stock has a market cap of $51.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $19.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. PG&E had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.76%. The firm had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. PG&E’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. PG&E’s payout ratio is presently 3.57%.

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.