Axa S.A. Purchases 23,353 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

AXA S.A. raised its stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) by 26.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 110,031 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 23,353 shares during the quarter. AXA S.A.'s holdings in PG&E were worth $2,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PCG. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of PG&E by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 4,271 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of PG&E by 746.0% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,465 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 4,819 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of PG&E in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $111,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of PG&E by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,036 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,519 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.30, for a total transaction of $562,578.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 151,116 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,614,306.80. This trade represents a 17.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.66 per share, for a total transaction of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 14,864 shares in the company, valued at $232,770.24. This represents a 75.39% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PG&E Stock Performance

Shares of PCG stock traded up $0.11 on Monday, reaching $17.24. The stock had a trading volume of 11,604,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,509,576. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05. PG&E Co. has a 1 year low of $14.99 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The stock has a market cap of $46.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.01.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $5.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.23 billion. PG&E had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 10.94%. PG&E's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. PG&E's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on PG&E from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays cut their price target on PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on PG&E from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered PG&E from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $21.13.

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.