EP Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,821 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PG&E were worth $1,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in PG&E by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,132,964,000 after buying an additional 6,151,233 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,988,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,046,462,000 after acquiring an additional 2,151,494 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $944,540,000 after purchasing an additional 19,317,171 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PG&E in the fourth quarter worth about $591,625,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in PG&E by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,125,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $385,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,394 shares during the period. 78.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In other PG&E news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.30, for a total transaction of $562,578.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 151,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,614,306.80. This represents a 17.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Price Performance

PCG stock opened at $17.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $16.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.05. PG&E Co. has a 52-week low of $14.99 and a 52-week high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.02). PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The company had revenue of $5.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PCG. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of PG&E from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of PG&E from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a report on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.13.

PG&E Profile

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.