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

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 52,145 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 145% compared to the average volume of 21,251 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In other news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,519 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.30, for a total value of $562,578.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PG&E

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in shares of PG&E by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 473,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,552,000 after purchasing an additional 9,716 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of PG&E by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 187,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,777,000 after acquiring an additional 42,426 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its stake in shares of PG&E by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 23,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $471,000 after acquiring an additional 2,732 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of PG&E by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 45,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $918,000 after acquiring an additional 3,705 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of PG&E by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 5,280,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $106,565,000 after purchasing an additional 185,874 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PCG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of PG&E from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.75.

PG&E Stock Down 6.1%

NYSE PCG traded down $0.96 on Monday, hitting $14.68. The stock had a trading volume of 45,248,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,047,774. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $16.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.50. The stock has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.00. PG&E has a 52-week low of $14.58 and a 52-week high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.02). The business 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%. PG&E’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.17%.

PG&E Company Profile

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.