Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Price Target Cut to $53.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan cut Portland General Electric’s price target to $53 from $56 while maintaining a “neutral” rating, implying approximately 8.6% upside from the stock’s $48.80 price.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: two analysts rate POR a Buy and eight rate it Hold, producing an overall “Hold” consensus and an average target price of $51.15.
• Portland General Electric slightly missed quarterly expectations, reporting $0.64 in EPS versus $0.65 expected and revenue of $814 million versus $839.75 million anticipated, though revenue increased 0.9% year over year.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $56.00 to $53.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the utilities provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective indicates a potential upside of 8.61% from the stock's current price.

POR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Zacks Research raised Portland General Electric from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $48.50 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Portland General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Portland General Electric presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.15.

Portland General Electric Stock Performance

NYSE POR traded down $0.67 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $48.80. 391,872 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,220,984. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.51. Portland General Electric has a 12-month low of $41.80 and a 12-month high of $54.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.67 and a 200 day moving average of $51.13.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.01). Portland General Electric had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 7.27%.The business had revenue of $814.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $839.75 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Portland General Electric will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Portland General Electric news, Director Michael Lewis sold 1,537 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.83, for a total transaction of $79,662.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,045 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $779,782.35. This trade represents a 9.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Portland General Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in POR. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 7.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,719,655 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $970,240,000 after buying an additional 1,292,219 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Portland General Electric by 4,959.5% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 6,896,396 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $357,440,000 after acquiring an additional 6,760,091 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Portland General Electric by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,728,784 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $229,333,000 after acquiring an additional 156,164 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 1,342.7% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,643,134 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $222,824,000 after purchasing an additional 4,321,305 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 42.2% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,551,731 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $170,448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,450 shares during the period.

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.

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