PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $24.00 to $25.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. PG&E traded as high as $20.65 and last traded at $20.64, with a volume of 705765 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.38.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on PCG. Bank of America started coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PG&E has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Stephanie N. Williams sold 38,601 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,168.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PG&E

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PCG. King Street Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in PG&E in the second quarter worth $1,964,250,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in PG&E by 17.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 101,910,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,779,352,000 after buying an additional 14,998,472 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in PG&E by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 282,332,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,731,888,000 after buying an additional 5,635,693 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted 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 buying an additional 5,066,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC bought a new stake in PG&E in the first quarter worth $57,200,000. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PG&E Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $53.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.64 and a 200-day moving average of $18.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.01. PG&E had a return on equity of 11.76% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.42%.

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.