Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 5,500 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ORA. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,026 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. boosted its stake in Ormat Technologies by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 19,446 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,317,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ormat Technologies by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,354 shares of the energy company's stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the energy company's stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,896 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.49% of the company's stock.

Ormat Technologies Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:ORA traded down $1.02 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $74.15. The company had a trading volume of 258,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 482,842. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.87. The stock has a market cap of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $61.58 and a one year high of $84.30.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The energy company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $229.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $228.33 million. Ormat Technologies had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 13.33%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Ormat Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Ormat Technologies's payout ratio is currently 23.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ormat Technologies news, Director David Granot sold 950 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total value of $69,445.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at $198,320.30. This trade represents a 25.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jessica Woelfel sold 409 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $29,509.35. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,094 shares in the company, valued at $439,682.10. This represents a 6.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,297 shares of company stock valued at $242,374 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ORA shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ormat Technologies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ormat Technologies from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ormat Technologies to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Ormat Technologies from $78.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Ormat Technologies from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $83.29.

Ormat Technologies Company Profile

Ormat Technologies, Inc engages in the geothermal and recovered energy power business in the United States, Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey, Chile, Guatemala, Guadeloupe, New Zealand, Honduras, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Electricity, Product, and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment develops, builds, owns, and operates geothermal, solar photovoltaic, and recovered energy-based power plants; and sells electricity.