USA Financial Formulas Makes New $167,000 Investment in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 8,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $167,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in PG&E by 136.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 30,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 17,636 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of PG&E by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 32,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,423 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PG&E during the fourth quarter worth about $950,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of PG&E by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 18,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 4,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in PG&E by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 24,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $494,000 after buying an additional 1,591 shares in the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the company’s 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 owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on PCG. UBS Group cut their price objective on PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho raised their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.64.

PG&E Price Performance

PCG stock opened at $16.95 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $20.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.98. PG&E Co. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $21.72.

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

PG&E Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is 7.81%.

PG&E Company 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.