Carles Hernandez, a director at PG&E Corp. (PCG), recently bought 3,142 shares. The buy increased his position by 10%, and came to a total cost of $49,989.
Another company director also bought $50,000 on the same day, and two additional directors bought shares in the prior week. Going back further, company insiders were sellers of shares, including three sales from the company CEO.
Overall, PG&E insiders own 2.7% of shares.
The power and gas utility is down 4% over the past year, far underperforming the overall stock market. PG&E has been under pressure given its location in California, and the costs associated with wildfires and other disasters that may include PG&E assets.
Revenues declined 5$ over the past year, and overall earnings dropped by about 30%. However, shares trade at less than 11 times forward earnings.
Action to take: PG&E shares are a relative value here, especially since most utility companies trade over 20 times earnings. The tradeoff is that PG&E has a low dividend payout of just 0.6%, so it’s not ideal for income investors.
Momentum investors may like shares, which are starting to trend higher after hitting a 52-week low in January.
For traders, the short-term trend is higher. The April $17 calls, last trading for about $0.55, are inexpensive enough to deliver high double-digit returns if shares keep trending higher at their current rate.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may further trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.