PG&E Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:PCG)

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 45,852 call options on the company. This is an increase of 505% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,579 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PG&E

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of PG&E by 10.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 17,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 1,665 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in shares of PG&E by 470.6% in the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 2,014 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of PG&E by 41.0% during the third quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 5,339 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in PG&E by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 78,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,271,000 after buying an additional 8,369 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of PG&E by 24.0% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 248,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,007,000 after acquiring an additional 48,140 shares in the last quarter. 78.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PCG. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of PG&E from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised PG&E from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of PG&E from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.89.

PG&E Price Performance

NYSE:PCG traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $17.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,773,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,542,835. The company has a market capitalization of $36.39 billion, a PE ratio of 16.15 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.83. PG&E has a 52-week low of $14.71 and a 52-week high of $18.32. The business’s 50-day moving average is $16.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.88.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. PG&E had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 10.84%. The company had revenue of $7.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PG&E will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PG&E Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. PG&E’s payout ratio is 3.81%.

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.