Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Makes New $47,000 Investment in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of PG&E by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 268,407,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,329,416,000 after purchasing an additional 21,731,911 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in PG&E by 27.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 83,522,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,347,215,000 after acquiring an additional 18,180,432 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in PG&E by 2.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 176,029,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,839,363,000 after purchasing an additional 4,044,631 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in PG&E by 21.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,270,915 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $294,710,000 after purchasing an additional 3,258,363 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of PG&E by 26.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,912,718 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $224,412,000 after purchasing an additional 2,916,407 shares during the period. 78.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on PCG. Barclays increased their price target on PG&E from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of PG&E from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of PG&E from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.11.

PG&E Stock Performance

NYSE PCG traded up $0.06 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.73. 9,909,595 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,285,107. The business has a 50 day moving average of $16.70 and a 200-day moving average of $16.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.83 and a beta of 1.26. PG&E Co. has a 12-month low of $14.71 and a 12-month high of $18.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.99.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.02. PG&E had a return on equity of 11.32% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PG&E Co. will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.57%.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 59,000 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.08, for a total transaction of $1,007,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,515,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,889,471.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.