Allstate Corp Takes $892,000 Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 44,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $892,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PCG. DnB Asset Management AS boosted its position in PG&E by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 520,867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,511,000 after acquiring an additional 39,873 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,066 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in PG&E by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,503 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in PG&E by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 17,385,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $350,842,000 after purchasing an additional 82,705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in PG&E by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 604,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,206,000 after purchasing an additional 4,581 shares in the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $232,770.24. This trade represents a 75.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 183,635 shares in the company, valued at $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PCG shares. Guggenheim cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays reduced their target price on PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.05.

PG&E Trading Up 1.1 %

PCG stock opened at $17.19 on Tuesday. 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 52-week low of $14.99 and a 52-week high of $21.72. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.65. The firm has a market cap of $45.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a PEG 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 the consensus estimate of $0.31. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The business had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

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

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.