PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Reaches New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) reached a new 52-week low during trading 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. The stock had previously closed at $16.29.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on PCG. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on PG&E in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PG&E presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.55.

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 on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total value of $1,147,766.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at $30,168,186.52. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PG&E

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in PG&E by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 243,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,915,000 after purchasing an additional 16,839 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PG&E by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 5,280,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $106,565,000 after purchasing an additional 185,874 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in PG&E by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 349,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,050,000 after acquiring an additional 101,075 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in PG&E by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 45,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $918,000 after acquiring an additional 3,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. purchased a new position in PG&E in the fourth quarter worth about $225,000. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PG&E Stock Down 1.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $41.81 billion, a PE ratio of 12.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.46.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.24 EPS. Analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. This is a boost from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. PG&E’s payout ratio is presently 7.81%.

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.