Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE:PCG)

Key Points

• Pacific Gas & Electric saw a significant uptick in options trading, with traders acquiring 168,041 call options, a 259% increase over the average volume.
• Analyst ratings are mixed, with the consensus target price set at $20.55, highlighting an "outsized" view from some analysts amid a backdrop of both upgrades and downgrades.
• Recent earnings report showed a miss on EPS estimates, with the company reporting $0.31 against a consensus of $0.33, and revenue down 1.5% year-over-year.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE:PCG - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 168,041 call options on the company. Thisisanincreaseof259% compared to the average daily volume of 46,798 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research 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 research report on Monday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of Pacific Gas & Electric to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Pacific Gas & Electric in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $20.55.

Pacific Gas & Electric Stock Up 2.5%

PCG traded up $0.38 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $15.49. The company had a trading volume of 19,635,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,567,479. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Pacific Gas & Electric has a 12 month low of $12.97 and a 12 month high of $21.72. The business's fifty day moving average price is $14.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.75. The company has a market cap of $41.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.54.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.02). Pacific Gas & Electric had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 10.13%. The company had revenue of $5.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Pacific Gas & Electric will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Pacific Gas & Electric Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Pacific Gas & Electric

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Pacific Gas & Electric by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 257,285,352 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,420,162,000 after buying an additional 2,926,384 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 3.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 58,079,843 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $819,447,000 after acquiring an additional 1,676,093 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 70.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 46,805,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $944,540,000 after acquiring an additional 19,317,171 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Pacific Gas & Electric by 4.3% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,944,322 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $342,643,000 after acquiring an additional 818,377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Pacific Gas & Electric by 352.3% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 19,172,519 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $329,384,000 after purchasing an additional 14,933,364 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company's stock.

Pacific Gas & Electric 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.