Paloma Partners Management Co Acquires Shares of 75,529 PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 75,529 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,493,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new position in PG&E in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $503,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in PG&E by 101.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,197 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 7,154 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in PG&E by 48.8% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 3,596 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,179 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in PG&E by 53.1% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 39,006 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $681,000 after acquiring an additional 13,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 4.3% in the second quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 152,375 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 6,239 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.56% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCG has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on PG&E in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $23.10.

PG&E Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:PCG traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $20.85. 75,173,813 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,217,393. PG&E Co. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $21.72. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.17. The firm has a market cap of $54.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from PG&E's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. PG&E's payout ratio is 3.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total transaction of $1,147,766.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About PG&E

PG&E Corporation, through its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, engages in the sale and delivery of electricity and natural gas to customers in northern and central California, the United States. It generates electricity using nuclear, hydroelectric, fossil fuel-fired, fuel cell, and photovoltaic sources.