PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Holdings Raised by Versant Capital Management Inc

Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 68.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in PG&E were worth $31,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of PG&E by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,722,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,816,000 after buying an additional 169,503 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in PG&E by 4.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,116,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $346,443,000 after acquiring an additional 681,369 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in PG&E by 4.7% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 2,527 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of PG&E during the third quarter valued at approximately $349,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of PG&E by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 87,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 15,648 shares during the period. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America started 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. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho lifted 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. 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 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.80.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PCG opened at $19.98 on Wednesday. PG&E Co. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.47. The firm has a market cap of $52.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. PG&E’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.81%.

PG&E 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.