PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.20.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PCG shares. Barclays upped their price objective on PG&E from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Mizuho upped their price objective on PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on PG&E from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded PG&E from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on PG&E from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th.

PG&E Trading Down 2.5 %

PCG stock opened at $20.08 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $52.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.93 and a beta of 1.01. PG&E has a twelve month low of $14.71 and a twelve month high of $20.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.30 and a 200-day moving average of $17.62.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Stephanie N. Williams sold 38,601 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.32, for a total transaction of $707,170.32. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 19,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $350,168.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PG&E

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. King Street Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in PG&E during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,964,250,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in PG&E during the 4th quarter worth about $394,285,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in PG&E by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 101,910,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,779,352,000 after buying an additional 14,998,472 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in PG&E during the 4th quarter worth about $142,612,000. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in PG&E by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 116,093,791 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,093,198,000 after buying an additional 7,681,566 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

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.