The PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

The PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of The PNC Financial Services Group from $142.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. HSBC raised shares of The PNC Financial Services Group from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $141.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of The PNC Financial Services Group from $185.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $152.00 target price on shares of The PNC Financial Services Group in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of The PNC Financial Services Group from $165.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.63.

The PNC Financial Services Group Stock Performance

The PNC Financial Services Group stock opened at $152.30 on Thursday. The PNC Financial Services Group has a 12-month low of $109.40 and a 12-month high of $162.24. The company has a market capitalization of $60.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $151.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.95.

The PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.09 by $0.01. The PNC Financial Services Group had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 11.64%. The firm had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The PNC Financial Services Group will post 12.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at The PNC Financial Services Group

In other The PNC Financial Services Group news, EVP Michael J. Hannon sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.82, for a total transaction of $446,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,442,347.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of The PNC Financial Services Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PNC. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in shares of The PNC Financial Services Group by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 16,997 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,135,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of The PNC Financial Services Group by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 16,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,977,000 after acquiring an additional 1,724 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of The PNC Financial Services Group by 68.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of The PNC Financial Services Group by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Ergoteles LLC lifted its stake in shares of The PNC Financial Services Group by 137.9% in the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 21,048 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,882,000 after acquiring an additional 12,201 shares during the period. 83.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About The PNC Financial Services Group

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc operates as a diversified financial services company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail Banking, Corporate & Institutional Banking, and Asset Management Group segments. The company's Retail Banking segment offers checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposit; residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, auto loans, credit cards, education loans, and personal and small business loans and lines of credit; and brokerage, insurance, and investment and cash management services.