Wexford Capital LP Purchases 39,120 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Wexford Capital LP boosted its position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 162,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,120 shares during the period. Wexford Capital LP’s holdings in PG&E were worth $3,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PCG. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of PG&E in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in PG&E by 84.7% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 77.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of PG&E by 243.0% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 4,041 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PCG shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho boosted their target price on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on PG&E in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PG&E stock opened at $20.39 on Friday. PG&E Co. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $21.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.19. The company has a market cap of $53.33 billion, a PE ratio of 15.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.01.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. PG&E’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.025 per share. This is a positive change from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.13%.

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.