PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Price Target Raised to $17.50

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) had its price target boosted by Morgan Stanley from $16.50 to $17.50 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.05.

PG&E Stock Performance

NYSE PCG opened at $16.91 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $16.16 and its 200-day moving average is $18.78. PG&E has a 12-month low of $14.99 and a 12-month high of $21.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market cap of $45.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In other PG&E news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total transaction of $532,368.77. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. This trade represents a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris acquired 6,389 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at $232,770.24. This represents a 75.39 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PG&E

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PCG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,132,964,000 after acquiring an additional 6,151,233 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 5.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 176,839,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,496,115,000 after acquiring an additional 8,604,396 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew 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 acquiring an additional 5,191,463 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 2.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 104,846,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,072,824,000 after acquiring an additional 2,936,763 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,988,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,046,462,000 after acquiring an additional 2,151,494 shares during the period. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About PG&E

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.