PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires 7,366 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 98,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,366 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in PG&E were worth $1,991,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PCG. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 68.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in PG&E by 61.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in PG&E by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in PG&E by 746.0% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 4,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in PG&E in the 4th quarter worth $111,000. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE PCG opened at $16.81 on Friday. PG&E Co. has a 1 year low of $14.99 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The stock has a market cap of $44.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $16.36 and a 200 day moving average of $18.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.29 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 183,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris acquired 6,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $232,770.24. The trade was a 75.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PCG. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of PG&E from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $16.50 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target 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. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.23.

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.