Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on PG&E (NYSE:PCG)

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 65,032 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 137% compared to the average daily volume of 27,415 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PCG. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group downgraded shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of PG&E from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on PG&E from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PG&E has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.13.

PG&E Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of PG&E stock opened at $17.11 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $16.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. PG&E has a 12-month low of $14.99 and a 12-month high of $21.72. The company has a market cap of $45.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.63.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its 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). The firm had revenue of $5.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that PG&E will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carla J. Peterman sold 32,521 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.37, for a total value of $532,368.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 183,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,006,104.95. This represents a 15.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Arno Lockheart Harris purchased 6,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.66 per share, with a total value of $100,051.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $232,770.24. The trade was a 75.39 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Barn Wealth LLC bought a new stake in PG&E during the first quarter valued at approximately $175,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,882,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $221,322,000 after acquiring an additional 720,500 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in PG&E by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 257,285,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,420,162,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,384 shares in the last quarter. American Assets Inc. bought a new position in PG&E in the first quarter valued at $979,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in PG&E in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

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.