Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Acquires New Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 10,254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $179,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $4,731,888,000 after buying an additional 5,635,693 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in PG&E by 1.8% in 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 buying an additional 2,176,931 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted 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 valued at $2,030,641,000 after buying an additional 5,066,183 shares in the last quarter. Third Point LLC boosted 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 valued at $1,043,216,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blackstone Inc. boosted its position in PG&E by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 48,578,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $875,878,000 after buying an additional 500,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PCG opened at $19.77 on Monday. PG&E Co. has a twelve month low of $14.71 and a twelve month high of $20.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The company has a market capitalization of $51.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.77.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $5.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PCG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of PG&E from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $19.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of PG&E from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of PG&E from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PG&E presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In other PG&E news, VP Stephanie N. Williams sold 38,601 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.32, for a total value of $707,170.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly 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 at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.15% 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.