Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA Buys 130,285 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA increased its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) by 29.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 575,052 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 130,285 shares during the quarter. PG&E makes up about 1.5% of Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA's holdings in PG&E were worth $9,879,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in PG&E by 1,233.6% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted 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 buying an additional 1,627 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of PG&E by 124.9% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,470 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 1,927 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its position in shares of PG&E by 23.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of PG&E by 30.2% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 5,183 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 1,203 shares in the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at PG&E

In other 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 value of $562,578.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PCG shares. Guggenheim lifted their price target on PG&E from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group cut PG&E from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $18.00 price target on PG&E and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of PG&E in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays reduced 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.75.

PG&E Stock Performance

PCG stock traded down $1.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $14.58. The company had a trading volume of 60,947,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,101,502. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $38.99 billion, a PE ratio of 12.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.60. PG&E Co. has a 12 month low of $14.57 and a 12 month high of $21.72. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $16.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.45.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $5.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.