PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Short Interest Update

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 44,640,000 shares, an increase of 30.8% from the February 28th total of 34,120,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 22,790,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

PG&E Price Performance

PCG stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $17.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,150,975 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,876,402. The company’s fifty day moving average is $16.21 and its 200-day moving average is $18.64. PG&E has a 1 year low of $14.99 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The company has a market capitalization of $46.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. 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 (NYSE:PCG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. 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%.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In related news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 183,635 shares in the company, valued at $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the purchase, 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. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PG&E

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of PG&E by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,132,964,000 after acquiring an additional 6,151,233 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted 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 valued at $2,155,093,000 after purchasing an additional 5,191,463 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in PG&E by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,988,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,046,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151,494 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 46,805,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $944,540,000 after buying an additional 19,317,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of PG&E by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 30,255,039 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,142,000 after buying an additional 1,822,835 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PCG shares. UBS Group cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective 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. Guggenheim downgraded shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.05.

PG&E Company Profile

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.