Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Hold” consensus on Portland General Electric, with eight hold ratings and two buy ratings. The average 12-month price target is $51.15, above the stock’s reported price of $47.15.
• The company’s latest quarterly results fell slightly short of expectations, reporting $0.64 in earnings per share versus the $0.65 consensus estimate and revenue of $814 million versus $839.75 million expected.
• Portland General Electric announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5513, equivalent to $2.21 annually and a 4.7% yield; the dividend is payable October 15 to shareholders of record as of September 25.

Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Hold" from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.15.

A number of research firms have weighed in on POR. Zacks Research raised shares of Portland General Electric from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Portland General Electric from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. BMO Capital Markets set a $52.00 price target on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $48.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael Lewis sold 1,537 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 15,045 shares in the company, valued at $779,782.35. This trade represents a 9.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Portland General Electric

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of POR. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Portland General Electric by 1,342.7% during the fourth 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. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Portland General Electric by 7.4% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Portland General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $56,497,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Portland General Electric by 3,222.3% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 685,133 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,510,000 after buying an additional 664,511 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Portland General Electric by 60.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,660,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $87,622,000 after buying an additional 626,223 shares during the last quarter.

Portland General Electric Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:POR opened at $47.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.78. The stock has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.51. Portland General Electric has a 1 year low of $42.56 and a 1 year high of $54.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $814.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $839.75 million. Portland General Electric had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 7.27%.Portland General Electric's revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Portland General Electric will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be issued a $0.5513 dividend. This represents a $2.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 25th. Portland General Electric's payout ratio is presently 96.92%.

Portland General Electric Company Profile

Portland General Electric Company NYSE: POR is an investor-owned electric utility that generates, purchases, transmits, distributes and sells electricity in Oregon. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and other customers, offering electric delivery and related energy services across its service territory.

Founded in 1889, Portland General Electric is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and serves communities in the Portland metropolitan area and the Willamette Valley, among other parts of the state.

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