Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 9,348 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,917,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,348 shares during the quarter. PG&E makes up 0.8% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned about 0.07% of PG&E worth $38,695,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of PG&E by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 474,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after buying an additional 38,590 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of PG&E by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,974,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,837,000 after buying an additional 148,860 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of PG&E by 5.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E in the fourth quarter valued at $514,000. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E in the fourth quarter valued at $466,000. 78.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the purchase, the director now owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $232,770.24. This trade represents a 75.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total transaction of $532,368.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Price Performance

PCG opened at $17.20 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. PG&E Co. has a 12 month low of $14.99 and a 12 month high of $21.72. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.83. The stock has a market cap of $45.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s payout ratio is presently 8.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PCG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.23.

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.