PG&E, GNC Holdings Plunge into Thursday's 52-Week Low Club

December 21, 2017: Here are four stocks trading with heavy volume among 54 equities making new 52-week lows in Thursday’s session. On the NYSE advancers led decliners by about 3 to 2 and on the Nasdaq, advancers led decliners by about the same margin.

PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) dropped more than 18% Thursday to post a new 52-week low of $41.61 after closing at $51.12 on Wednesday. The 52-week high is $71.57. Volume was around 47 million, nearly 8 times the daily average of around 6 million. The giant utility suspended its quarterly dividend this morning in order to set aside funds to deal with potential liability resulting from wildfires earlier this year in Northern California.

GNC Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNC) slipped more than 26% to post a new 52-week low of $3.61 Thursday after closing at $4.90 on Wednesday. Volume of about 14.5 million was more than 4 times the daily average. The company converted about $98.9 million in debt into $14.6 million shares of common stock plus some cash. Investors were not pleased.

PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) posted a 52-week low of $31.11 after closing Wednesday at $31.59. The 52-week high is $40.20. Volume was about 9.6 million, more than double the daily average of around 4.2 million shares. The electric utility company had no specific news.

Edison International (NYSE: EIX) dropped more than 10% Thursday to post a new 52-week low of $62.67 after closing at $69.85 on Wednesday. Volume was around 7.6 million, nearly three times the daily average of around 2.6 million. The electric utility is facing potentially heavy liability for the recent wildfires in southern California.