Hennessy Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 834,149 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 22,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PG&E were worth $14,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCG. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in PG&E by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,168 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 923 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of PG&E by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 40,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,853 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC increased its position in shares of PG&E by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 27,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of PG&E by 94.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,545,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,549,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722,613 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in shares of PG&E by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 14,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In related news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.30, for a total transaction of $562,578.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 151,116 shares in the company, valued at $2,614,306.80. This represents a 17.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on PCG. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of 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 upped their target price on shares of PG&E from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $18.00 target price on shares of PG&E and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.75.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG opened at $13.60 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $16.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.36. PG&E Co. has a 52 week low of $13.52 and a 52 week high of $21.72. The company has a market capitalization of $36.39 billion, a PE ratio of 11.83, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.60. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $5.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio 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.