: PG&E’s stock powers up toward a 4-year high after plan to pay first dividend in more than 6 years

Shares of PG&E Corp. PCG powered up 2% toward a four-year high in premarket trading Tuesday, after the California-based gas and electric utility said it was reinstating its dividend. The company said shareholders of record on Dec. 29 will receive a penny for each share they own on Jan. 15. The last time PG&E paid a dividend of 53 cents a share in September 2017; the company had suspended the dividend in December 2017 because of liabilities for the Northern California wildfires. “Declaring a dividend enables PG&E Corporation to attract new sources of capital from the financial markets, which are critical to funding PG&E’s safety and reliability infrastructure work,” the company said in a statement. The stock has advanced 10.1% year to date through Monday, while the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF XLU has dropped 10.9% and the S&P 500 SPX has rallied 18.5%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.