Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 187,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,370 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in PG&E were worth $3,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of PG&E by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 474,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after purchasing an additional 38,590 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in PG&E by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,974,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,837,000 after acquiring an additional 148,860 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in PG&E by 5.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,155,093,000 after acquiring an additional 5,191,463 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in PG&E by 259.6% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 61,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 44,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in PG&E in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $514,000. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on PCG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Guggenheim cut PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays decreased their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley cut PG&E from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $16.50 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.23.

PG&E Stock Up 0.6 %

PG&E stock opened at $16.03 on Thursday. PG&E Co. has a twelve month low of $14.99 and a twelve month high of $21.72. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The business had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In other PG&E news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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. This represents a 75.39 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total value of $1,147,766.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at $30,168,186.52. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.