PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Receives $23.10 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.10.

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America began coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PCG opened at $19.75 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.43, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. PG&E has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PG&E will post 1.36 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.13%.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In related news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at $30,168,186.52. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PG&E

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PCG. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $346,443,000 after purchasing an additional 681,369 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 2,527 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E during the 3rd quarter valued at about $349,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in PG&E by 21.7% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 87,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after acquiring an additional 15,648 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in PG&E by 34.5% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 35,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 9,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% 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.