PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 44,640,000 shares, an increase of 30.8% from the February 28th total of 34,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 22,790,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PG&E

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of PG&E by 68.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 1,233.6% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,690 shares in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its position in shares of PG&E by 563.0% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,627 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 4,271 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 825 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group downgraded shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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, Guggenheim cut PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.05.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of PCG stock traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $17.19. 17,925,321 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,894,064. PG&E has a fifty-two week low of $14.99 and a fifty-two week high of $21.72. The firm has a market cap of $45.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.65.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The business had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that PG&E will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.70%.

About PG&E

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.