Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) has been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

POR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $51.00 price objective on Portland General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research cut Portland General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Portland General Electric in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Portland General Electric from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th.

Portland General Electric Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE POR opened at $52.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.07. Portland General Electric has a one year low of $39.73 and a one year high of $54.62.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.19). Portland General Electric had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 7.12%.The business had revenue of $879.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $953.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. Portland General Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Portland General Electric will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 25th were paid a dividend of $0.5513 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 25th. This is a positive change from Portland General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Portland General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 98.21%.

Insider Activity at Portland General Electric

In related news, CFO Joseph R. Trpik, Jr. sold 7,500 shares of Portland General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total value of $367,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,897 shares in the company, valued at $1,563,909.91. The trade was a 19.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert N. Hoglund purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $48.80 per share, with a total value of $97,600.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,519 shares in the company, valued at $122,927.20. This represents a 385.36% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Portland General Electric

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of POR. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Portland General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,662,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its holdings in Portland General Electric by 683.5% during the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 43,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,077,000 after purchasing an additional 37,758 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 127,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,728,000 after buying an additional 20,147 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 228.9% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 68,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,285,000 after buying an additional 47,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Portland General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $897,000.

About Portland General Electric

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) is an investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, with roots tracing back to the late 19th century. The company generates, transmits and distributes electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers across a broad territory in Oregon, primarily encompassing the Portland metropolitan area and surrounding regions.

As one of Oregon’s largest electric utilities, Portland General Electric operates a diverse portfolio of generation assets, including hydroelectric facilities, natural gas–fired plants and renewable energy sources.