PG&E Co. (PCG) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 31st

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) announced a quarterly dividend on Saturday, November 2nd,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.025 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01.

PG&E has a dividend payout ratio of 6.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect PG&E to earn $1.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.10 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.7%.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of PCG traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.14. 10,354,215 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,302,234. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.37. The company has a market cap of $52.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.73, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. PG&E has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that PG&E will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America started coverage on PG&E in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PG&E currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.80.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.