Prudential Financial Inc. Boosts Holdings in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,958,355 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 355,977 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.07% of PG&E worth $39,520,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in PG&E by 68.3% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of PG&E by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of PG&E by 11.4% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 7,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in PG&E by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarius Group LLC lifted its holdings in PG&E by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 11,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 183,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at $232,770.24. This trade represents a 75.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PCG. UBS Group cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim cut PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho increased their price target on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PG&E has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.05.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PG&E stock opened at $17.04 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market cap of $45.52 billion, a PE ratio of 14.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. PG&E Co. has a 52 week low of $14.99 and a 52 week high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

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

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.