Inspire Advisors LLC Purchases 15,809 Shares of OGE Energy Corporation (NYSE:OGE)

Key Points

• Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in OGE Energy by 34% during the first quarter, owning 62,326 shares valued at approximately $2.86 million.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for OGE Energy, with Argus and Barclays both setting new targets of $47, indicating a positive outlook.
• OGE Energy recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4213 per share, representing an annualized yield of 3.75% and a dividend payout ratio of 69.42%.

Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in OGE Energy Corporation (NYSE:OGE - Free Report) by 34.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,326 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,809 shares during the quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC's holdings in OGE Energy were worth $2,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of OGE. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in OGE Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of OGE Energy by 102.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 715 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of OGE Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of OGE Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY grew its stake in shares of OGE Energy by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. 71.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on OGE. Argus raised OGE Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays raised OGE Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised OGE Energy to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on OGE Energy from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.80.

OGE Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OGE traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $45.18. 381,285 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,170,056. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.73. OGE Energy Corporation has a one year low of $38.42 and a one year high of $46.91.

OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $741.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $719.97 million. OGE Energy had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 10.58%. OGE Energy's quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that OGE Energy Corporation will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OGE Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 7th were paid a $0.4213 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 7th. This represents a $1.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. OGE Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at OGE Energy

In other OGE Energy news, VP Donnie O. Jones sold 11,351 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.06, for a total transaction of $500,125.06. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 43,932 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,935,643.92. This trade represents a 20.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider William H. Sultemeier sold 6,650 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.54, for a total value of $302,841.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 72,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,303,835.92. This represents a 8.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company's stock.

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.