AlphaQuest LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

AlphaQuest LLC reduced its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 46.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,422 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in PG&E were worth $172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of PG&E by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 176,839,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,496,115,000 after buying an additional 8,604,396 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of PG&E by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,155,093,000 after buying an additional 5,191,463 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of PG&E by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 104,846,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,072,824,000 after buying an additional 2,936,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PG&E by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,837,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $981,960,000 after buying an additional 536,914 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in PG&E by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 30,255,039 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,835 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PCG opened at $16.81 on Monday. PG&E Co. has a twelve month low of $14.99 and a twelve month high of $21.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The company has a market capitalization of $44.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.87.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other PG&E news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $232,770.24. The trade was a 75.39 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total value of $532,368.77. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 183,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,006,104.95. This trade represents 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PCG shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded PG&E from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $16.50 in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim downgraded PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.23.

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.