Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Takes $12.20 Million Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 604,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,196,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PCG. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in PG&E in the second quarter valued at $74,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in PG&E by 32.9% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on PCG. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.64.

PG&E Stock Up 0.4 %

PCG opened at $17.02 on Friday. PG&E Co. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $21.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $19.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.47. The company has a market cap of $44.51 billion, a PE ratio of 13.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.98.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share 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 firm 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 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.025 dividend. This is an increase from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In other PG&E news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.