PG&E (NYSE:PCG) Cut to "Underweight" at Morgan Stanley

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $16.50 price target on the utilities provider's stock, down from their previous price target of $20.00. Morgan Stanley's price target points to a potential upside of 7.12% from the company's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.23.

PG&E Price Performance

Shares of PG&E stock traded up $0.11 on Friday, hitting $15.40. 24,716,336 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,724,686. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $17.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99. PG&E has a 1-year low of $14.99 and a 1-year high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PG&E will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PG&E news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were 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 $30,168,186.52. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in PG&E by 68.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of PG&E by 1,233.6% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 563.0% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,916 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,627 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in PG&E by 77.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,195 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company's stock.

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.