PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Reaches New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $24.00 to $23.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. PG&E traded as low as $15.90 and last traded at $15.97, with a volume of 7418999 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $16.29.

PCG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on PG&E in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on PG&E in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.55.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In other PG&E news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in PG&E by 94.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,545,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,549,000 after purchasing an additional 1,722,613 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of PG&E in the 4th quarter valued at $268,000. Savant Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of PG&E by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 27,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PG&E in the 4th quarter valued at $376,000. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its holdings in shares of PG&E by 74.5% in the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 65,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 27,844 shares during the period. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PG&E Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.30 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.24 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.