First Trust Advisors LP Sells 19,534 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its holdings in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,285,655 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 19,534 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in PG&E were worth $25,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of PG&E by 68.3% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of PG&E by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of PG&E in the fourth quarter worth about $111,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted 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 buying an additional 1,205 shares during the period. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In related news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris acquired 6,389 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the purchase, the director now directly 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 purchase 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 firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total value of $532,368.77. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 183,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 corporate insiders.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $17.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,828,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,385,055. PG&E Co. has a 1-year low of $14.99 and a 1-year high of $21.72. The stock has a market cap of $46.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.02). PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The business had revenue of $5.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. PG&E's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PCG shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on PG&E from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on PG&E from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group cut PG&E from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on PG&E from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $21.13.

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.