PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $18.00 to $19.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. PG&E traded as high as $19.10 and last traded at $19.10, with a volume of 1912056 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.80.

PCG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Barclays upped their price target on PG&E from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised PG&E from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $19.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, June 10th. Citigroup lifted their price target on PG&E from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Stephanie N. Williams sold 38,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.32, for a total transaction of $707,170.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 19,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,168.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in PG&E during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of PG&E by 84.7% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 77.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in PG&E during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PG&E Trading Up 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $54.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.79 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.43.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.86 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 11.76% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About PG&E

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.