Empirical Finance LLC Buys 3,053 Shares of PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) by 9.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,053 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in PG&E were worth $688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in PG&E during the second quarter valued at $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of PG&E by 84.7% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of PG&E by 77.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of PG&E in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 48.8% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 3,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,179 shares during the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PCG. Bank of America began coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised 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 started coverage on PG&E in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on PG&E from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on PG&E from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.80.

PG&E Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of PCG opened at $21.04 on Friday. PG&E Co. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $21.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $55.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.03.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.58 billion. PG&E had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 12.51%. PG&E’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that PG&E Co. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. PG&E’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.13%.

PG&E Profile

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.