PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Given New $17.50 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) had its target price upped by Morgan Stanley from $16.50 to $17.50 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the utilities provider's stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group cut shares of PG&E from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective 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 issued a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of PG&E from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered PG&E from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.05.

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PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $17.16. The stock had a trading volume of 11,185,537 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,143,562. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.92, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's 50 day moving average is $16.18 and its 200 day moving average is $18.75. PG&E has a twelve month low of $14.99 and a twelve month high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. PG&E's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.70%.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In related news, Director Arno Lockheart Harris bought 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 acquisition, the director now owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at $232,770.24. This represents 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 the SEC website. Also, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,006,104.95. This trade represents a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PG&E

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PCG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in PG&E by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,358,968 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,132,964,000 after acquiring an additional 6,151,233 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 5.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 176,839,426 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,496,115,000 after purchasing an additional 8,604,396 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of PG&E by 5.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,953,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,155,093,000 after purchasing an additional 5,191,463 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in PG&E by 2.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 104,846,953 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,072,824,000 after purchasing an additional 2,936,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in PG&E by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,988,553 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,046,462,000 after buying an additional 2,151,494 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company's stock.

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.