Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Makes New Investment in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. purchased a new stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $139,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of PG&E by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 176,839,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,496,115,000 after acquiring an additional 8,604,396 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in PG&E by 5.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,155,093,000 after purchasing an additional 5,191,463 shares during the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON increased its position in PG&E by 45.6% during the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 12,643,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,954,000 after purchasing an additional 3,958,495 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 91.2% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 4,027,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,622,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in PG&E by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 15,572,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $307,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,690 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of PCG stock opened at $16.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. PG&E Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.99 and a fifty-two week high of $21.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.78.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The business 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 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on PCG. Guggenheim lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group downgraded PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price 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. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PG&E presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.05.

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.