Barclays PLC Buys 420,133 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 8.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,692,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 420,133 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned about 0.22% of PG&E worth $112,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,191,463 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 259.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 61,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 44,650 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,122,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of PG&E by 808.5% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,243,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in PG&E by 23.7% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,387,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,230,000 after purchasing an additional 265,694 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. 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. Finally, Bank of America assumed 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total transaction of $1,147,766.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Price Performance

PG&E stock opened at $19.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $51.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. PG&E Co. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $21.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $20.52 and its 200-day moving average is $19.23.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. PG&E’s payout ratio is currently 7.81%.

PG&E Company Profile

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.