Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 602,151 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,162,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 602,151 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in PG&E were worth $245,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of PG&E by 5.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 176,839,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,496,115,000 after acquiring an additional 8,604,396 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in PG&E by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,155,093,000 after purchasing an additional 5,191,463 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 104,846,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,072,824,000 after purchasing an additional 2,936,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,837,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $981,960,000 after purchasing an additional 536,914 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 6.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 30,255,039 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $598,142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,835 shares in the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PCG shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded PG&E from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $16.50 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.23.

PG&E Stock Performance

NYSE PCG opened at $16.09 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $16.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.97. PG&E Co. has a 1 year low of $14.99 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99. 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 (NYSE:PCG) last issued 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. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

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

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.