PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.03 Per Share

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) declared a quarterly dividend on Saturday, November 2nd,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.025 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from PG&E’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01.

PG&E has a dividend payout ratio of 6.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect PG&E to earn $1.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.10 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.7%.

PG&E Trading Down 0.3 %

PG&E stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $20.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,354,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,302,234. PG&E has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $21.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.49 and its 200 day moving average is $19.37.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on PG&E from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of PG&E from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of 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, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of PG&E in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PG&E currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Patricia K. Poppe sold 55,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total value of $1,147,766.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,460,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,168,186.52. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.