First Pacific Advisors LP Sells 65,906 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

First Pacific Advisors LP lowered its position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,080,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 65,906 shares during the period. First Pacific Advisors LP’s holdings in PG&E were worth $21,803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 68.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in PG&E by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in PG&E by 32.9% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in PG&E by 746.0% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 4,819 shares during the period. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in PG&E in the fourth quarter worth approximately $111,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total value of $532,368.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. This trade represents a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the purchase, the director now owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $232,770.24. This represents a 75.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Trading Down 0.7 %

PG&E stock opened at $15.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.96. PG&E Co. has a 1 year low of $14.99 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The stock has a market cap of $42.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.88, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The business had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.29 billion. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. On average, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.70%.

About PG&E

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.