Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Sells 12,500 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc lowered its position in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 12,500 shares during the period. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in PG&E were worth $1,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCG. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 68.3% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of PG&E in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PG&E in the 2nd quarter valued at about $74,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 77.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 98.5% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PCG. Barclays lowered their target price on PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group lowered their target price on PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho boosted 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, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on PG&E in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PG&E currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total value of $1,147,766.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

PG&E Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of PCG stock traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $16.50. 31,962,174 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,942,455. PG&E Co. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $20.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The firm has a market cap of $43.15 billion, a PE ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.81%.

PG&E Profile

PG&E Corporation, through its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, engages in the sale and delivery of electricity and natural gas to customers in northern and central California, the United States. It generates electricity using nuclear, hydroelectric, fossil fuel-fired, fuel cell, and photovoltaic sources.