Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 169,503 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 6.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,722,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 169,503 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.10% of PG&E worth $53,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of PG&E by 4.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,116,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $346,443,000 after purchasing an additional 681,369 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in PG&E by 4.7% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 2,527 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in PG&E in the 3rd quarter valued at $349,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in PG&E by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 87,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after buying an additional 15,648 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 34.5% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 35,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 9,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total value of $1,147,766.30. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PG&E stock opened at $19.82 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.31. PG&E Co. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $21.72. 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 cap of $51.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.01.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict 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 will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PCG. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on PG&E in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.80.

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.