Verition Fund Management LLC Acquires 265,115 Shares of OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE)

Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE) by 25.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,318,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 265,115 shares during the quarter. OGE Energy makes up 0.3% of Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Verition Fund Management LLC owned about 0.66% of OGE Energy worth $54,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ClearBridge Investments Ltd lifted its stake in OGE Energy by 2.7% in the second quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 5,829,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,103,000 after buying an additional 150,797 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of OGE Energy by 3.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,815,848 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,878,000 after purchasing an additional 139,872 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in OGE Energy by 31.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,197,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $78,453,000 after acquiring an additional 531,730 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of OGE Energy by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,339,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,960,000 after purchasing an additional 4,761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of OGE Energy by 3,834.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 748,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,708,000 after buying an additional 729,579 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on OGE. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of OGE Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of OGE Energy from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on OGE Energy from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OGE Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.50.

OGE Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of OGE opened at $44.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.51. OGE Energy Corp. has a 1 year low of $32.06 and a 1 year high of $44.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.88.

OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $965.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. OGE Energy had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 13.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that OGE Energy Corp. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OGE Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.4213 per share. This represents a $1.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 7th. This is an increase from OGE Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. OGE Energy’s payout ratio is currently 87.05%.

Insider Activity at OGE Energy

In related news, VP Cristina F. Mcquistion sold 5,008 shares of OGE Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.84, for a total transaction of $214,542.72. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,918 shares in the company, valued at $896,127.12. The trade was a 19.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About OGE Energy

OGE Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy services provider in the United States. The company generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy. In addition, it provides retail electric service to approximately 896,000 customers, which covers a service area of approximately 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas; and owns and operates coal-fired, natural gas-fired, wind-powered, and solar-powered generating assets.