Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Reduces Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. decreased its holdings in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,849,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 196,000 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in PG&E were worth $51,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PCG. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in PG&E by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 27,142 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 3,299 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 7,598,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $137,009,000 after purchasing an additional 446,848 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in PG&E by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 922,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,639,000 after buying an additional 76,178 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in PG&E by 8.9% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,987,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,057,000 after buying an additional 162,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in PG&E by 78.7% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 654,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,036,000 after acquiring an additional 288,280 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PCG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of PG&E from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on PG&E from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on PG&E from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.11.

PG&E Trading Down 0.5 %

PCG traded down $0.09 on Tuesday, hitting $17.17. The company had a trading volume of 2,466,630 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,386,443. PG&E Co. has a 12-month low of $14.71 and a 12-month high of $18.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.91. The company has a market cap of $36.69 billion, a PE ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 1.32.

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

PG&E Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.57%.

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.