Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Stock Price

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) had its target price cut by Barclays from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

PCG has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Guggenheim cut PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PG&E presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.05.

PG&E Stock Up 2.8 %

NYSE PCG opened at $16.93 on Wednesday. PG&E has a 1 year low of $14.99 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.70. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $16.35 and its 200 day moving average is $18.43.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.70%.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In related news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total value of $532,368.77. Following 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 represents a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now 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. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PCG. Norges Bank bought a new position in PG&E during the 4th quarter valued at about $591,625,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in PG&E by 70.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 46,805,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $944,540,000 after purchasing an additional 19,317,171 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,132,964,000 after purchasing an additional 6,151,233 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP grew its position in PG&E by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 12,661,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $255,506,000 after purchasing an additional 5,814,624 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in shares of PG&E by 244.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,706,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,066,000 after buying an additional 3,340,599 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.