PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $19.25, but opened at $17.97. PG&E shares last traded at $17.75, with a volume of 8,956,799 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.80.

PG&E Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $20.35 and its 200 day moving average is $19.49. The firm has a market cap of $44.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. PG&E had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 12.51%. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. PG&E’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. This is a positive change from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. PG&E’s payout ratio is presently 7.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total value of $1,147,766.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 5.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,155,093,000 after buying an additional 5,191,463 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 259.6% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 61,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,223,000 after buying an additional 44,650 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC bought a new position in shares of PG&E in the second quarter worth approximately $1,122,000. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 39.6% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 111,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,944,000 after buying an additional 31,573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 435,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,608,000 after buying an additional 28,192 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

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.