BMO Capital Markets Initiates Coverage on PG&E (NYSE:PCG)

BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PG&E (NYSE:PCG) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $21.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays reduced their target price on PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho lifted their price target on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.64.

PG&E Trading Down 5.6 %

PG&E stock opened at $16.20 on Monday. PG&E has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.49. The firm has a market cap of $42.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. PG&E’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that PG&E will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. This is a positive change from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is 7.81%.

Insider Activity

In other PG&E news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the firm’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. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. King Street Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in PG&E during the second quarter worth approximately $1,964,250,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 17.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 101,910,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,779,352,000 after buying an additional 14,998,472 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 176,839,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,496,115,000 after buying an additional 8,604,396 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in PG&E by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,155,093,000 after buying an additional 5,191,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookfield Corp ON raised its holdings in PG&E by 45.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 12,643,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,954,000 after acquiring an additional 3,958,495 shares during the period. 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.