PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Shares Bought by Guggenheim Capital LLC

Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 21.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 174,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,286 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in PG&E were worth $3,530,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 68.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in PG&E by 61.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in PG&E by 746.0% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 4,819 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of PG&E in the fourth quarter valued at about $111,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG stock opened at $17.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. PG&E Co. has a 12-month low of $14.99 and a 12-month high of $21.72. The business’s 50 day moving average is $16.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.35. The company has a market capitalization of $46.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.70.

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

PG&E Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total value of $532,368.77. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. This trade represents a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PCG. UBS Group lowered PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.95.

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.