Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Increases Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,350 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in PG&E were worth $754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,132,964,000 after purchasing an additional 6,151,233 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in PG&E by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,155,093,000 after buying an additional 5,191,463 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in PG&E by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,837,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $981,960,000 after buying an additional 536,914 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in PG&E by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 30,255,039 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,142,000 after buying an additional 1,822,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,116,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,443,000 after acquiring an additional 681,369 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares in the company, valued at $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris acquired 6,389 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,770.24. This trade represents a 75.39 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

PG&E Stock Performance

NYSE:PCG opened at $17.15 on Friday. PG&E Co. has a twelve month low of $14.99 and a twelve month high of $21.72. The company has a market capitalization of $45.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. 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 50-day moving average price of $16.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.70.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, research 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PCG shares. UBS Group lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim downgraded PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.05.

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.