PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Price Target Raised to $17.00

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) had its price target increased by Guggenheim from $16.00 to $17.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a neutral rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on PCG. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target 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 lowered PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays lowered their price target on PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on PG&E from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.32.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of PCG opened at $17.14 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.25. PG&E has a fifty-two week low of $14.99 and a fifty-two week high of $21.72. The stock has a market cap of $45.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.07). PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The company had revenue of $5.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion. Analysts anticipate that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.17%.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PG&E

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PCG. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in shares of PG&E by 45.0% in the first quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in PG&E in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,222,000. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in PG&E by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 421,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,246,000 after purchasing an additional 7,599 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in PG&E by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 5,688,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $97,734,000 after purchasing an additional 408,080 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in PG&E by 431.2% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,469 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 2,816 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

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.