Brookstone Capital Management Acquires New Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Brookstone Capital Management bought a new stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 15,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PCG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in PG&E in the 4th quarter valued at about $394,285,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 268,407,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,329,416,000 after purchasing an additional 21,731,911 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in PG&E in the 4th quarter valued at about $142,612,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in PG&E by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 116,093,791 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,093,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,681,566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 534.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,314,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,852,000 after purchasing an additional 5,319,289 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In other PG&E news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 59,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.08, for a total value of $1,007,720.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,515,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,889,471.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of PCG opened at $17.08 on Wednesday. PG&E Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.71 and a fifty-two week high of $18.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $17.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.24. The company has a market cap of $49.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.02. PG&E had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 11.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PCG. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of PG&E from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.11.

About PG&E

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.