PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Declares Dividend Increase - $0.03 Per Share

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Saturday, November 2nd,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.025 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from PG&E's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01.

PG&E has a dividend payout ratio of 6.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect PG&E to earn $1.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.10 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.7%.

PG&E Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of PCG stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,354,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,302,234. The stock has a market cap of $52.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.73, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. PG&E has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $21.72. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $20.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.38.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. PG&E's revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS. Research analysts predict that PG&E will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PG&E news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the 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 owns 1,460,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PCG has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Bank of America initiated coverage on PG&E in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group dropped their target price on PG&E from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.80.

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.