Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Cuts Stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 9.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 797,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 79,374 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in PG&E were worth $13,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 282,332,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,731,888,000 after buying an additional 5,635,693 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 126,126,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,113,882,000 after buying an additional 2,176,931 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 121,159,974 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,030,641,000 after buying an additional 5,066,183 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 84,516,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,523,828,000 after buying an additional 993,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Third Point LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Third Point LLC now owns 57,860,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,043,216,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PCG has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded PG&E from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on PG&E from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on PG&E from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PG&E presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.40.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PCG traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $18.38. 7,794,630 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,367,865. PG&E Co. has a 12-month low of $14.71 and a 12-month high of $18.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The company has a market cap of $48.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $17.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.23.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.01. PG&E had a return on equity of 11.76% and a net margin of 10.22%. The company had revenue of $5.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. PG&E’s revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. PG&E’s payout ratio is 3.57%.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 59,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.08, for a total transaction of $1,007,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,515,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,889,471.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PG&E Company Profile

PG&E Corporation, through its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, engages in the sale and delivery of electricity and natural gas to customers in northern and central California, the United States. It generates electricity using nuclear, hydroelectric, fossil fuel-fired, fuel cell, and photovoltaic sources.