Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 329,710 PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 329,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,654,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in PG&E by 68.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of PG&E by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 77.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in PG&E by 98.5% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 2,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its stake in PG&E by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PG&E Price Performance

NYSE:PCG opened at $15.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $42.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $17.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.10. PG&E Co. has a one year low of $14.99 and a one year high of $21.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its quarterly 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. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Equities analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. PG&E’s payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PCG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group reduced their price target on PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim lowered PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho increased their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of PG&E from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $16.50 in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PG&E presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.23.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of PG&E 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 directly owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $232,770.24. This represents a 75.39 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PG&E 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.