Investors Purchase Large Volume of PG&E Call Options (NYSE:PCG)

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 88,612 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 246% compared to the typical daily volume of 25,587 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PCG. Guggenheim cut PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group downgraded PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.95.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other PG&E news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total transaction of $532,368.77. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 183,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PG&E

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCG. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in PG&E by 38.1% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of PG&E by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 357,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,134,000 after purchasing an additional 7,705 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of PG&E by 6.5% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 87,419 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,502,000 after acquiring an additional 5,307 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E during the 1st quarter worth about $218,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of PG&E by 4,665.9% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 297,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,109,000 after buying an additional 291,150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $16.87. 16,057,429 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,388,445. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.33. PG&E has a 52-week low of $14.99 and a 52-week high of $21.72. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $45.07 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.70.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued 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 was Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s payout ratio is 8.70%.

PG&E Company 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.