Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on PG&E (NYSE:PCG)

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 37,894 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 87% compared to the average volume of 20,282 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on PCG shares. Mizuho raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price objective on PG&E from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of PG&E from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Monday, January 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.36.

PG&E Price Performance

PG&E stock opened at $15.90 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.24. PG&E has a 12 month low of $14.99 and a 12 month high of $21.72. The company has a market cap of $41.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.42, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.99.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. PG&E had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 12.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that PG&E will post 1.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at PG&E

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total value of $1,147,766.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 through the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PG&E

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PCG. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of PG&E by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 474,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,566,000 after buying an additional 38,590 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 259.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 61,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 44,650 shares during the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC bought a new position in PG&E in the fourth quarter valued at $514,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in PG&E during the fourth quarter valued at about $336,000. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.