SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 241,497 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 72.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 93,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 241,497 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in PG&E were worth $1,895,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in PG&E by 68.3% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the period. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in PG&E in the second quarter valued at about $74,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in PG&E by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in PG&E by 77.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in PG&E by 98.5% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PCG. Mizuho upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PG&E currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.64.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In related news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total value of $1,147,766.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,460,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PG&E Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of PCG stock opened at $16.52 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $19.55 and a 200-day moving average of $19.46. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $21.72. The company has a market capitalization of $43.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.98.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued 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. PG&E had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 12.51%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PG&E Co. 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 was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.81%.

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.