PG&E Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:PCG)

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 88,612 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 246% compared to the average daily volume of 25,587 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PCG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Guggenheim lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of PG&E 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 $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris acquired 6,389 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,770.24. This trade represents a 75.39 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PG&E

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in PG&E during the 4th quarter worth $591,625,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of PG&E by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 46,805,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $944,540,000 after acquiring an additional 19,317,171 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in PG&E by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,132,964,000 after purchasing an additional 6,151,233 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in PG&E by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 12,661,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $255,506,000 after purchasing an additional 5,814,624 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in PG&E by 244.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,706,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,066,000 after purchasing an additional 3,340,599 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PG&E Stock Performance

PG&E stock opened at $16.87 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $16.53 and a 200-day moving average of $18.31. The stock has a market cap of $45.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.70. PG&E has a 52 week low of $14.99 and a 52 week high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. On average, analysts expect that PG&E will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

PG&E Company Profile

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.