Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Position in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) by 384.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 80,699 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 64,027 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in PG&E were worth $1,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of PG&E by 1,233.6% during the fourth 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 boosted its stake in shares of PG&E by 563.0% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,916 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,927 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake 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 valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 825 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake 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 valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,519 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 151,116 shares in the company, valued at $2,614,306.80. This trade represents a 17.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

PG&E Stock Down 2.1%

PCG traded down $0.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $15.60. The stock had a trading volume of 47,947,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,925,230. The stock's 50 day moving average is $16.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The company has a market capitalization of $41.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.60. PG&E Co. has a one year low of $14.99 and a one year high of $21.72.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.02). PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The firm had revenue of $5.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. PG&E's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. PG&E's payout ratio is presently 9.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PCG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on PG&E from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on PG&E from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lowered PG&E from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of PG&E in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on PG&E from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, PG&E has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.75.

PG&E 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.