PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Price Target Raised to $17.50

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $16.50 to $17.50 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 3.52% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped 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. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.05.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG stock opened at $16.91 on Thursday. PG&E has a one year low of $14.99 and a one year high of $21.72. The company’s 50-day moving average is $16.16 and its 200 day moving average is $18.79. The company has a market capitalization of $45.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The business had revenue of $6.63 billion for 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that PG&E will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total transaction of $532,368.77. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 183,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PG&E

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 6,151,233 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in PG&E by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,988,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,046,462,000 after buying an additional 2,151,494 shares in the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.