Hennessy Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 856,649 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,700 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings in PG&E were worth $17,287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PCG. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in PG&E during the second quarter valued at $451,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of PG&E by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,193,627 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $20,841,000 after acquiring an additional 13,196 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in PG&E by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,651,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $116,141,000 after acquiring an additional 335,306 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in PG&E during the second quarter worth about $2,565,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in PG&E by 7.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 468,216 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,776,000 after purchasing an additional 30,542 shares during the period. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PG&E Stock Performance

PCG stock traded up $0.07 on Friday, hitting $17.02. The company had a trading volume of 25,721,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,319,955. The stock has a market cap of $44.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $19.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.47. PG&E Co. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. PG&E's revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from PG&E's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. PG&E's dividend payout ratio is 7.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on PG&E in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group cut their target price on PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho lifted their price target on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total value of $1,147,766.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.15% of the stock is currently 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.