Man Group plc Cuts Stock Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Man Group plc lowered its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 61.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 236,812 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 378,672 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc’s holdings in PG&E were worth $4,779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PCG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in PG&E by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,132,964,000 after buying an additional 6,151,233 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in PG&E by 4.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,151,494 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in PG&E by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 46,805,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $944,540,000 after purchasing an additional 19,317,171 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PG&E in the 4th quarter valued at $591,625,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in PG&E by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,125,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $385,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,394 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PCG shares. UBS Group lowered PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on PG&E from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on PG&E from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on PG&E from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PG&E has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.71.

PG&E Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:PCG opened at $17.75 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $17.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.89. 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 $47.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.43, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.63. PG&E Co. has a 12-month low of $14.99 and a 12-month high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In other news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the transaction, 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,519 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.30, for a total value of $562,578.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 151,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,614,306.80. This represents a 17.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.