Pacific Gas & Electric Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:PCG)

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE:PCG) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 411,710 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,526% compared to the average daily volume of 25,317 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pacific Gas & Electric 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 owned 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. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pacific Gas & Electric

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 6.8% in the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 75,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 4,773 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Pacific Gas & Electric in the 1st quarter worth $16,330,000. GK Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Pacific Gas & Electric by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. GK Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 1,895 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Pacific Gas & Electric by 210.8% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 788,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,545,000 after acquiring an additional 534,741 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 93.0% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 83,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after acquiring an additional 40,380 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Pacific Gas & Electric Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:PCG opened at $13.41 on Friday. Pacific Gas & Electric has a one year low of $13.34 and a one year high of $21.72. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $15.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE:PCG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.02). Pacific Gas & Electric had a return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 9.81%. The company had revenue of $5.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pacific Gas & Electric will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Pacific Gas & Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Pacific Gas & Electric’s payout ratio is 9.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PCG has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group lowered shares of Pacific Gas & Electric from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Pacific Gas & Electric from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $18.00 price objective on Pacific Gas & Electric and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Pacific Gas & Electric from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.73.

Pacific Gas & Electric 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.