PG&E Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:PCG)

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 52,145 put options on the company. This is an increase of 145% compared to the average daily volume of 21,251 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.30, for a total transaction of $562,578.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 151,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,614,306.80. The trade was a 17.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of PG&E

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in PG&E during the fourth quarter worth $591,625,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of PG&E by 70.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 46,805,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $944,540,000 after purchasing an additional 19,317,171 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. bought a new position in shares of PG&E in the first quarter valued at about $320,984,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of PG&E by 352.3% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 19,172,519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $329,384,000 after purchasing an additional 14,933,364 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of PG&E by 317.2% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 16,464,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,305,000 after purchasing an additional 12,518,011 shares during the period. 78.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of PG&E from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of PG&E from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PG&E has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.75.

PG&E Stock Up 1.5%

PG&E stock opened at $14.80 on Wednesday. PG&E has a twelve month low of $14.37 and a twelve month high of $21.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $16.85 and a 200-day moving average of $17.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.02). PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The business had revenue of $5.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that PG&E will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.17%.

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.