Allstate Corp Purchases New Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 44,207 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $892,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 61.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 4,819 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in PG&E during the fourth quarter valued at $111,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in PG&E by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,240 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company's stock.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG stock traded down $0.88 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $16.38. 19,792,170 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,466,367. PG&E Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.99 and a fifty-two week high of $21.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $16.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.62.

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

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. PG&E's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PCG shares. Guggenheim downgraded PG&E from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group cut shares of PG&E from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note 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 research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of PG&E from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PG&E currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.05.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

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

About PG&E

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.