PG&E Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:PCG)

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors bought 52,145 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 145% compared to the average daily volume of 21,251 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PG&E news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.30, for a total transaction of $562,578.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 151,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,614,306.80. The trade was a 17.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PG&E

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PG&E in the fourth quarter worth approximately $591,625,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of PG&E by 70.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 46,805,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $944,540,000 after purchasing an additional 19,317,171 shares during the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. purchased a new stake in PG&E during the 1st quarter worth about $320,984,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of PG&E by 352.3% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 19,172,519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $329,384,000 after acquiring an additional 14,933,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in PG&E by 317.2% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 16,464,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $280,305,000 after purchasing an additional 12,518,011 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PCG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on PG&E from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of PG&E from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.75.

PG&E Trading Down 6.1%

PCG traded down $0.96 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $14.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 45,248,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,047,774. The business’s 50-day moving average is $16.95 and its 200-day moving average is $17.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.60. PG&E has a fifty-two week low of $14.58 and a fifty-two week high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $5.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.17%.

About PG&E

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.