Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Grows Stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 187,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,370 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in PG&E were worth $3,782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PCG. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PG&E by 77.7% in the 3rd 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of PG&E by 4,623.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 34,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 33,286 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of PG&E by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 145,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,876,000 after purchasing an additional 42,483 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of PG&E by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 78,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 21,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in PG&E by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 268,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,396,000 after acquiring an additional 17,580 shares during the period. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of PG&E stock opened at $16.03 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. PG&E Co. has a twelve month low of $14.99 and a twelve month high of $21.72. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $17.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.09. The firm has a market cap of $42.81 billion, a PE ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 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 Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on PCG shares. Guggenheim cut PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays lowered their price target on PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley cut PG&E from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $16.50 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PG&E news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris acquired 6,389 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at $232,770.24. This represents a 75.39 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

PG&E 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.