Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Raises Stock Holdings in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) by 27.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,817,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,877,800 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.34% of PG&E worth $177,939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of PG&E by 68.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in PG&E by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of PG&E by 746.0% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,465 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 4,819 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of PG&E in the fourth quarter worth about $111,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of PG&E by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,036 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PCG shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group cut PG&E from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "overweight" rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Guggenheim cut PG&E from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PG&E has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $21.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In other PG&E news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 6,389 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at $232,770.24. This trade represents a 75.39 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total transaction of $532,368.77. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 183,635 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. The trade was a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of PCG opened at $17.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.30. PG&E Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.99 and a fifty-two week high of $21.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.64 billion, a PE ratio of 15.18, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.70.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. Equities analysts predict that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. PG&E's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

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.

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