Prudential PLC Raises Position in Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Key Points

• Prudential PLC significantly increased its stake in Pacific Gas & Electric Co. by 335.4%, acquiring an additional 694,797 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 901,951 shares valued at approximately $15.5 million.
• Several large institutional investors have also adjusted their positions in Pacific Gas & Electric, with institutional ownership now at 78.56% of the company's stock.
• Pacific Gas & Electric reported quarterly earnings of $0.31 per share, missing analyst expectations, and revealed a decline in revenue compared to the previous year.

Prudential PLC grew its position in Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE:PCG - Free Report) by 335.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 901,951 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 694,797 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in Pacific Gas & Electric were worth $15,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PCG. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 46,805,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $944,540,000 after buying an additional 19,317,171 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 84.9% during 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 257,285,352 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,420,162,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,384 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its position in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 272.5% during the 4th quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 3,560,305 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $71,847,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604,445 shares during the period. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its position in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 16.2% during 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PCG shares. Guggenheim increased 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. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Argus raised shares of Pacific Gas & Electric to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pacific Gas & Electric currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.55.

Pacific Gas & Electric Stock Performance

Pacific Gas & Electric stock traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $15.03. 29,241,733 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,587,730. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has a 12-month low of $12.97 and a 12-month high of $21.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $40.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.54. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $14.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.74.

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

Pacific Gas & Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Pacific Gas & Electric's payout ratio is presently 9.17%.

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.