Centre Asset Management LLC Buys 985 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Centre Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC’s holdings in PG&E were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PCG. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of PG&E by 5.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 176,839,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,496,115,000 after buying an additional 8,604,396 shares during the period. King Street Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in PG&E during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,964,250,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in PG&E by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,155,093,000 after acquiring an additional 5,191,463 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in PG&E by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 104,846,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,072,824,000 after acquiring an additional 2,936,763 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in PG&E by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,837,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $981,960,000 after purchasing an additional 536,914 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other PG&E news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total transaction of $1,147,766.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,460,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays lowered their price target on PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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 note on Thursday, December 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PG&E presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.80.

PG&E Price Performance

NYSE PCG traded up $0.24 on Friday, reaching $20.25. 2,695,229 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,561,467. The stock has a market cap of $52.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. PG&E Co. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $21.72. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.41.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 12.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. PG&E’s payout ratio is 7.81%.

About PG&E

PG&E Corporation, through its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, engages in the sale and delivery of electricity and natural gas to customers in northern and central California, the United States. It generates electricity using nuclear, hydroelectric, fossil fuel-fired, fuel cell, and photovoltaic sources.