PG&E Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:PCG)

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 35,716 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 319% compared to the typical volume of 8,523 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on PG&E in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group lifted their target price on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on PG&E in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.10.

Insider Activity at PG&E

In other PG&E news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of PG&E stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total transaction of $1,147,766.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,168,186.52. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PG&E

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in PG&E by 3.1% in the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 22,458 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in PG&E by 1.5% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 47,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $930,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in PG&E by 11.4% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 7,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd boosted its holdings in PG&E by 19.5% in the second quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 4,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in PG&E by 2.6% in the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PG&E Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE PCG opened at $19.82 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The company has a market cap of $51.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.01. PG&E has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $21.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.24.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that PG&E will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. This is a boost from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. PG&E’s payout ratio is 7.81%.

About PG&E

PG&E Corporation, through its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, engages in the sale and delivery of electricity and natural gas to customers in northern and central California, the United States. It generates electricity using nuclear, hydroelectric, fossil fuel-fired, fuel cell, and photovoltaic sources.