Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Takes $4.60 Million Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new position in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 227,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,598,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of PG&E by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,132,964,000 after purchasing an additional 6,151,233 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in PG&E by 5.0% in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in PG&E by 1.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,822,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in PG&E by 4.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,116,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,443,000 after purchasing an additional 681,369 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim downgraded shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.05.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total value of $532,368.77. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at $232,770.24. The trade was a 75.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PG&E Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of PCG stock opened at $17.24 on Thursday. PG&E Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.99 and a fifty-two week high of $21.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The business had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

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.