Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Buys New Shares in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 97,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,862,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PCG. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 59,799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,207,000 after buying an additional 14,786 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 30,737 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after buying an additional 1,525 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 746.0% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 4,819 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $463,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 150,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,032,000 after buying an additional 1,327 shares in the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PCG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.23.

PG&E Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:PCG opened at $15.94 on Monday. PG&E Co. has a 12 month low of $14.99 and a 12 month high of $21.72. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market cap of $42.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.