Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its investment in Pacific Gas & Electric Co. by 5.9%, acquiring an additional 720,500 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to 12,882,526 shares.
• Pacific Gas & Electric reported an EPS of $0.31 for the latest quarter, missing analysts' expectations by $0.02, with revenues of $5.90 billion compared to forecasts of $6.37 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.025 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.7% and a low payout ratio of 9.17%.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,882,526 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 720,500 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.48% of Pacific Gas & Electric worth $221,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PCG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 257,285,352 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,420,162,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,384 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 70.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 46,805,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $944,540,000 after buying an additional 19,317,171 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Pacific Gas & Electric by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,125,945 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $385,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,394 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its stake in Pacific Gas & Electric by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 14,692,444 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $296,494,000 after purchasing an additional 2,049,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP raised its stake in Pacific Gas & Electric by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 12,661,324 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $255,506,000 after purchasing an additional 5,814,624 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company's stock.

Pacific Gas & Electric Stock Performance

NYSE:PCG traded up $0.38 on Tuesday, reaching $15.49. 26,107,111 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,612,082. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $41.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.54. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has a 52 week low of $12.97 and a 52 week high of $21.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.75.

Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.02). Pacific Gas & Electric had a return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 9.95%. The firm had revenue of $5.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Pacific Gas & Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Pacific Gas & Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PCG. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Argus upgraded shares of Pacific Gas & Electric to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $18.00 target price on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pacific Gas & Electric presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.55.

Pacific Gas & Electric 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.