John Simon Sells 4,393 Shares of Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE:PCG) Stock

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE:PCG) EVP John Simon sold 4,393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.01, for a total transaction of $79,117.93. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 437,910 shares in the company, valued at $7,886,759.10. The trade was a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Pacific Gas & Electric Stock Performance

Pacific Gas & Electric stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $18.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,969,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,922,998. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $15.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.97. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has a 12-month low of $12.97 and a 12-month high of $18.38. The company has a market capitalization of $39.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.32, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.36.

Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE:PCG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.36. Pacific Gas & Electric had a return on equity of 11.28% and a net margin of 10.84%.The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pacific Gas & Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This is a boost from Pacific Gas & Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. Pacific Gas & Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pacific Gas & Electric

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 59.5% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 468,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,522,000 after purchasing an additional 174,564 shares in the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. lifted its position in Pacific Gas & Electric by 96.5% in the 4th quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 110,915 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,782,000 after buying an additional 54,474 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in Pacific Gas & Electric by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 2,836 shares during the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC boosted its stake in Pacific Gas & Electric by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 56,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $900,000 after buying an additional 4,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Pacific Gas & Electric in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on PCG. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $21.00 target price on Pacific Gas & Electric in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.73.

About Pacific Gas & Electric

Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE: PCG) is an investor-owned utility holding company whose principal operating subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, provides electricity and natural gas service in northern and central California. The company’s core activities include the generation, procurement, transmission and distribution of electric power, as well as the transmission and distribution of natural gas. PG&E serves a broad mix of residential, commercial, and industrial customers across urban and rural communities within its California service territory.

PG&E’s operations encompass utility infrastructure planning and construction, grid operations, customer service and energy procurement.